CHINA:NEXT SUNDAY'S ST Patrick's Day parade in the Chinese capital Beijing has been cancelled amid heightened security concerns that online calls for protests similar to the "Jasmine revolutions" sweeping authoritarian governments in the Middle East could spread to China.
The parade was supposed to have been staged in Chaoyang Park, a venue several kilometres away from the downtown Wangfujing shopping street, where there have been online calls for citizens to take “an afternoon stroll” on Sunday afternoons in a sign of passive resistance.
The decision to cancel the parade, the third to be held in the capital, comes as a surprise as the event was due to be held on Sunday, and it marks the latest disappointment for China’s Irish community, after the Shanghai St Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled last week.
While no formal reason for the decision to cancel the parade was given, sources said that the order came from the Chaoyang municipal authorities, following a decision by the Public Security Bureau.
Chinese officials say that any attempts to stage a “Jasmine revolution” in China are doomed to failure because Chinese people enjoyed the benefits of a strong economy and treasured peace and stability, but they are clearly taking no chances.
In the past month, scores of dissidents and lawyers have been rounded up or placed under house arrest, and some activists charged with sedition for posting news of the phantom protests online.
Foreign reporters have been barred from sites of would-be protests and threatened with having their residence visas revoked.
It is understood that permission to stage the parade had been granted as late as last week, but with only four days to go before the planned parade, there is no time to arrange any alternative event to mark the Irish national holiday.
Several thousand had been expected to attend the event. There are about 350 Irish people living in Beijing, a slightly smaller community than in Shanghai.