Police in Shanghai are cracking down on Halloween celebrations in an effort to prevent revelers from sharing political messages in their costumes. 

Such was the case last year, when scores of people assembled in Julu Road, Shanghai, for the first Halloween celebration since Communist China ended its three-year pandemic lockdown. Many of the party goers expressed their displeasure with the government’s harsh policies by dressing up in hazmat suits or other costumes related to the coronavirus. 

Others paid homage to the rare demonstrations waged in 2022 against China’s “zero-covid” policies” by wearing blank sheets of paper. Those protests exploded in November after a fatal fire at a high-rise apartment broke out, with many claiming that the building’s locked doors prevented victims from escaping and obstructed rescue missions. It is not entirely clear if lockdown restrictions actually impacted the fire’s spread. 

This year, however, police had put measures in place ahead of the October 31 holiday, including placing makeshift barriers on Julu road, a stretch that boasts many of Shanghai’s nightlife attractions.  

According to a local restaurant owner in Jing An, officials asked him and others in the area to sign a pledge against organizing costume parties at their establishments, the New York Post reports. The individual said that the police wanted “to maintain good social order and public image.” There was no official announcement of a ban or restrictions on Halloween celebrations. 

As costume-clad partiers descended on Julu road over the weekend, officials began to make the rounds and bring partiers to an administrative building to “remove their make-up and play down their outfits,” the Financial Times reports. A 22-year-old student at the scene was escorted off the street to remove his makeup, though he told the FT that process took a half an hour because a long line of costume-wearers had formed. 

A representative for the Shanghai information office told the Financial Times that, “festival activities . . . must not affect public order” and pointed out that there were organized Halloween activities at nearby theme parks.  “We carry out necessary guidance and orderly management in some crowded areas in the city, entirely to ensure smooth traffic, public order and citizen safety,” the representative said.