SWAT given 'shoot on sight' orders; commuters frisked as Beijing heightens anti-terror measures
PUBLISHED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 6:03pm
UPDATED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 6:16pm
Alice Yan [email protected] and Andrea Chen [email protected]
SWAT teams were given the green light by the Public Security Ministry to shoot terrorists on sight, without firing warning shots. Photo: AFP
Beijing subjected rush-hour passengers to an extra layer of security checks and gave orders allowing SWAT teams to shoot terrorists on sight, as it ramped up policing after a string of attacks on the mainland.
The Public Security Ministry commanded the SWAT units to shoot assailants “carrying out violent attacks”, doing away with standard protocol of firing warning shots first, The Beijing News reported today.
“We were given twice as many bullets as usual,” Xia Xiongwei, a SWAT team leader, was quoted as saying.
This morning, hundreds of passengers queued up in security lines outside nine key subway stations in Beijing, where metro staff were waiting with body-scanning equipment. The extra layer of security was put in place last Saturday.
Previously, only luggage was subjected to scans, the Beijing Times reported.
Train passengers undergo body scans. Photo: Weibo
The Chinese government launched a one-year anti-terror campaign last Sunday, after three deadly bombings rocked China’s western provinces of Xinjiang and Yunnan recently.
It singled out the restive Xinjiang region, where separatist movements have been active, as the “main battlefield”. Police forces have been beefed up in major cities.
Xinjiang has already captured 200 suspects allegedly part of 23 terrorist or extremist groups during a raid on Sunday in the Hetian, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures, state news agency Xinhua said.
In Chengdu, capital of western Sichuan province, more than 8,000 police officers were sent to patrol the streets, the Huaxi Metropolitan Daily reported.
The city’s SWAT teams were stationed at Tianfu Square in the city centre, while more than 30,000 volunteers were assigned to look for any suspects.
In the southwest province of Guizhou, some 300 people were arrested in raids on supposed terror hotspots.
Commuters had to queue up for a security line during rush-hour. Photo: Weibo
It sent 24,000 uniformed and plain-clothes police officers at the weekend to inspect small hotels, slums, internet cafes, entertainment venues and baths where “criminals and terrorists tend to hide”, the Guiyang Evening News quoted the province’s public security department as saying.
Neighbouring Yunnan province has distributed 80,000 anti-terror booklets to the public, with guidelines on how to identify terrorists and how citizens can protect themselves, Xinhua said.
Police frisk a commuter. Previously, only luggage was subjected to scans at transport hubs in the capital. Photo: Weibo
