Street sweepers preempt any dissent in Beijing

Hundreds of police blocked off Beijing’s central shopping district on Sunday, employing giant water trucks and burly street sweepers with straw brooms to disperse any stirrings of possible protests. But there was no visible dissent and cops instead took to aggressively disbanding dozens of foreign journalists who descended on the mall street.

It was impossible to tell if anyone among the strolling crowds was there to protest the regime, as called for in a letter posted online last week by the mysterious proponents of China’s not-materialized “Jasmine Revolution.” A few hundred people showed up at the first demonstration on Feb. 20, but were quickly scattered away by multitudes of police. This week the cops took a more pre-emptive stance, and in doing so, virtually invited more attention from foreign journalists.

On Friday, Beijing police began calling reporters, warning some they were not allowed to report in Wangfujing this weekend, while telling others to be mindful of the country’s rules. (China’s rules for foreign journalists are fairly open since a policy change for the Olympics in 2008). By drumming up interest in what many had believed would be a dud event, the police ensured that foreign journalists were out in full force. Initial reports were that at least one was journalist was beaten up and more than a dozen manhandled and detained.

While Shanghai saw actual demonstrators on Sunday, protest organizers succeeded in one thing in the capital: disrupting the city’s routine. Wangfujing, Beijing’s central shopping district and the heart of the city, was locked down and the police maintained a heavy presence at other major malls and gathering spots. And after two hours of sweeping and spraying, there can’t be a cleaner street in China.