After a nearly ten-month delay, the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party will convene tomorrow on July 15th. According to a Beijing resident interviewed by Epoch Times, the authorities are enforcing strict control, with even non-dissidents receiving notices in recent days instructing them not to enter or exit Beijing without reason.
The 20th Central Committee is scheduled to meet from July 15th to 18th. The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau announced on the 12th that from midnight on the 15th until late night on the 18th, all units, organizations, and individuals within the administrative area of Beijing are prohibited from using drones and other “low, slow, small” aircraft for any sports, entertainment, or advertising flights.
Mr. Li, a Beijing resident, also told Epoch Times on the 14th that the control measures for the Central Committee meeting are very strict. A friend from Hebei who is not a dissident also received a notice on the 12th, prohibiting them from entering or leaving Beijing without reason.
He further revealed that officials are inspecting security conditions, stating, “On the morning of the 13th, the Beijing Metro Line 1 between Wanshou Road and Yuquan Road, in the area of the Jingxi Guesthouse, suspended operations and closed the station directly, but reopened around 2 p.m.”
According to a report in Sing Tao Daily, more than 370 members and alternate members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, including the Party leadership, as well as senior officials from central government agencies, provinces, municipalities, and the military will attend the Central Committee meeting. The meeting is typically held behind closed doors at the Jingxi Guesthouse.
Mr. Li expressed that there is a high concentration of police on the streets now. In the afternoon of the 13th, as he passed by the Jingxi Guesthouse, he observed special police, plainclothes officers, and public security officers everywhere, including personnel checking identification, controlling pedestrian flow, and various interceptors from different regions.
“I saw online notifications from Shandong demanding that petitioners return before the 12th. In the streets of Fangshan District, I saw a large number of police forces conducting inspections, searching for individuals they deemed suspicious. There are many interceptors from various regions at Beijing West Railway Station and the north square of Beijing Railway Station,” Mr. Li said.
Mr. Li mentioned that on the nights of July 10th and 11th, the Yan Village Police Station in Fangshan District deployed a large number of police to check on the living conditions of foreign residents and to tightly control dissidents in the jurisdiction. The village is located on the border with Hebei.
Additionally, petitioner Yang Caiying from Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, told Epoch Times on July 13th that her 71-year-old mother went to Beijing to petition for help from Xi Jinping, but due to the Central Committee meeting, she was intercepted by local police on July 3rd. “After returning, she was directly taken to a detention center, and it was criminal detention. The police told us that the length of detention has not been determined.”
Video provided by Yang Caiying to Epoch Times shows that when she was at her sister’s house on Binhubei Road in Jintan District, the local government sent people to monitor her.
She said, “When my sister returned home, they had over ten people monitoring us 24/7, and now they even have walkie-talkies. Because of the Central Committee meeting, many petitioners are being monitored. We Jiangsu petitioners are stuck at home and unable to move freely.”
According to Yang Caiying, after Li Yaoguang, the director of the Jiangsu Public Security Department, was transferred from Beijing to Jiangsu, the suppression of petitioners became extremely serious, with many people facing criminal detention and sentencing. “They are very aggressive, arresting you without any reasons.”