Police are working to prevent mass Halloween celebrations in Shanghai

SHANGHAI (Reuters). Shanghai police patrolled downtown streets over the weekend to crack down on Halloween celebrations in China’s most international city.

Local authorities appear to be scrambling to prevent a repeat of last year, when Halloween revelers thronged central Shanghai, some dressed in costumes mocking China’s stock market, youth unemployment and tough policies on COVID-19.

This weekend, a police presence, Internet posts about the break-up of the rally, and constant rain kept the festivities to a minimum.

Reuters witnesses saw at least half a dozen people in costumes who appeared in Shanghai’s Zhongshan Park on Friday night being led away by police.

There was no official announcement of a citywide Halloween ban, although local district officials sent notices to businesses ahead of the weekend encouraging family-friendly celebrations and banning events where adults would wear costumes.

The owner of a bar and restaurant in the Jing An nightlife district was asked to sign an agreement issued by the district’s local government, which pledged not to organize any events such as costume contests “to maintain good social order and public image,” he said on Friday . Reuters has seen a copy of the order signed by the owner.

Police in Jinan County did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

One party-goer dressed up as a skeleton on Friday night in the Jinan district until police detained him and took him to an administrative building and asked him to remove his make-up, he said. He declined to be identified for privacy reasons.

By Saturday, news of the Halloween crackdown in Shanghai was a trending topic on Chinese social media, including Weibo.

“Even in the relatively open Shanghai, the scale of freedom is constantly shrinking,” wrote one user.

Officially sanctioned Halloween celebrations at Shanghai Disney Resort and Happy Valley Theme Park went ahead as scheduled.

(Reporting by Casey Hall, Nicoko Chan and Shanghai staff; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)