China To Mobilize 1 Million Security Volunteers, Crack Down On Religious Cults For September G20 Sum
By Duncan Hewitt
On 05/20/16 AT 8:00 AM
SHANGHAI — China is to mobilize one million volunteers in eastern Zhejiang province to ensure security at the G-20 summit of world leaders, government officials and central bank governors in the province’s capital, Hangzhou, on Sept. 4 to 5, Chinese media reported Friday.
Hangzhou’s deputy Communist Party chief Yang Shubiao said the city would put an emphasis not only on “maintaining social stability,” but also on “cracking down on cult activities,” which he described as an "important part of securing the G-20 summit,” according to the official Global Times. The paper also said rental homes in Hangzhou would be checked before the summit, and quoted one Hangzhou official as saying that the authorities were “looking into unregistered residents [and] those with a criminal record or history of drug abuse."
The report made it clear that China’s mass mobilization approach to dealing with major events is being refined and intensified for the G-20 summit, which will host some 100 top international officials and 10,000 other participants, according to Chinese media. When Shanghai hosted the World Expo in 2010, 140,000 volunteers were reportedly recruited in the neighboring city of Jiaxing to guard every road into Shanghai for the duration of the six-month event. And strict security checks were introduced on all roads into the capital Beijing, before and during the 2008 Olympics.
Dissidents and unregistered religious organizations, as well as those associated with groups such as the Falungong spiritual movement, which China labeled a cult and banned in 1999, are also routinely put under surveillance on such occasions.
http://www.ibtimes.com/china-mobilize-1-million-security-volunteers-crack-down-religious-cults-september-g20-2371730
