Dozens of mainly foreign residents of Beijing dressed up as Santa Claus as part of a worldwide weekend costume parade got a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings — ejection from Tiananmen Square.
The group was taking part in Saturday’s SantaCon — a worldwide event that sees people don Santa’s familiar red suit and white-brimmed hat and make merry in cities around the world including the Chinese capital, two revellers said.
About four hours into the day-long event, which in Beijing takes the form of a pub crawl, dozens of revellers entered Tiananmen Square — the scene of mass pro-democracy protests in 1989 that ended in a bloody army crackdown.
PHOTO: AFP 照片：法新社
As they gathered for a photo, police intervened, the participants said.
“You are causing a social disturbance — leave the square now,” one partygoer, who asked not to be identified, quoted a police officer as saying to the group.
“If you want to visit Tiananmen, come in the appropriate way.”
Another participant told AFP: “Everyone just dispersed really quickly in an effort not to get into trouble. The cops did follow us out, but the party moved on and there were no problems.”
The Global Times quoted one drunken Santa as saying: “China stole my Christmas,” but the first participant interviewed by AFP said he thought the incident had given the event some bite.
“I think people sort of liked getting kicked out of Tiananmen Square. I think it added a bit of edginess to what otherwise would just have been a pub crawl,” he said, adding there had been no problems in the past two years.
(AFP)
數十位居住北京，身穿聖誕老人服，多數來自外國的人，近日聚集北京天安門廣場集會，此舉為世上於聖誕節前流行的某種週末集會，但此舉卻遭廣場上的衛兵驅逐。
兩位參加這集會的同歡者表示，在聖誕老人集會中，人們習慣穿著眾所熟悉的聖誕老人紅色衣服，頭戴著白色邊帽子，並在世界各主要城市散播聖誕祝福，當然中國首都也不例外。
這個長達一整天的活動進行約四小時後，數十位參加集會的人走進天安門廣場─也是一九八九年提倡民主自由者聚集抗議，最後遭中國軍隊血腥鎮壓的地方。
參加集會的人表示，正當大家集合拍照時，警方便干涉。
一位參加集會，並要求匿名的人引述警員當時對他們說，「你們已經造成社會不安─請馬上離開廣場。」
「如果你們想參觀天安門廣場的話，請以適當的方式前來。」
另一位集會者告訴法新社，「大家為了不要惹上麻煩，一下子就散開了。警察也跟隨我們離去，但是派對依然繼續，之後也沒發生問題。」
《環球時報》引述一位喝醉的聖誕老人說：「中國毀了我的聖誕節。」但是參與集會，第一位接受法新社採訪的人說，他認為這個小插曲讓整個活動添加刺激。
他說，「我覺得大家從天安門被趕出來，似乎感覺還蠻不錯的。我認為這個事件讓我們的活動增加一絲色彩與刺激，否則似乎只像一群人去許多家酒吧喝酒罷了。」他也補充表示，過去兩年的活動都沒有發生問題。
（法新社／翻譯：吳岱璟）
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