Beijing on Edge as Fifth Plenum Opens: Militias Guard Bridges, Armed Police Patrol Streets, and Subw

As the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Fifth Plenum of the 20th Central Committee opened on Oct. 26, Beijing tightened security, with authorities increasing street-level deployments. Militia members have reportedly replaced security guards at bridge posts, while armed police patrols have been added to existing mobile police checkpoints.

Petitioners from several regions have reportedly been removed from Beijing, and enhanced subway security checks have caused congestion, with video showing at least one angry passenger berating a police officer.

Beijing tightens security as Fifth Plenum opens

The CCP’s Fifth Plenum began in Beijing on Oct. 26 and is scheduled to run through Oct. 29. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that security personnel outside the Jingxi Hotel, a venue used for past plenums, had increased significantly since Oct. 19. The meeting’s location had not been officially announced as of Oct. 23, according to Reuters.

A Beijing resident surnamed Li told RFA that when he passed the hotel’s main entrance, he saw military personnel on guard and police directing traffic. Parking was prohibited within a 200-meter radius of the entrance, while plainclothes personnel moved around the surrounding area, frequently scrutinizing passersby. During this period, people suspected of being petitioners were asked to present their identification cards, which were checked on the spot.

An independent scholar in Beijing surnamed Qin also said that the number of militia members wearing camouflage uniforms and stationed on overpasses had increased since the previous week. Temporary guard posts had been set up on some pedestrian bridges.

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“Those being taken away for so-called ‘travel’ [a euphemism for forcibly removing petitioners from Beijing], those reporting for duty—there’s plenty to keep these police busy. In Beijing, there are two kinds of guards stationed on overpasses. Armed police are now posted on the streets. On the overpasses, some of those wearing camouflage uniforms are militia members. There are no security guards in Beijing now; they’ve all been replaced by militia members, along with armed police,” Qin said.

Mr. Qin said he had seen photographs taken by a friend showing armed police stationed at multiple intersections along Chang’an Avenue. Armed police were also present at the Xinjiekou intersection, which is some distance from Chang’an Avenue.

He said Beijing’s recent security tightening was related to the Fifth Plenum and several sensitive anniversaries.

Mr. Liu, a retired military serviceman from Shandong Province, also told RFA that he and others had recently been subjected to varying degrees of surveillance by China’s state security authorities in connection with “sensitive dates.” He said police from his local station had contacted him in advance and warned him not to go out.

“Anyway, I know that many people have been warned not to go anywhere. I don’t even dare to go to Beijing. If I visit someone at their home, the state security police will go to every person involved and investigate them. Everyone is in a very difficult position now. If you meet up with friends in Beijing, they will track them down one by one and threaten them,” he said.

Ms. Sun, a petitioner from Hebei Province who is currently in Beijing’s Mentougou District, also told RFA that before the Fifth Plenum, numerous petitioners had been taken away by local authorities tasked with intercepting petitioners. The cases reportedly involved people from several provinces.

“Quite a few people were taken away the day before yesterday. They were forcibly removed by local officials. There were people from Nanjing, Gansu, Jilin, and Henan. Apparently, the plan is to clear everyone out. They say they want to remove all of them. But officials from different localities tasked with intercepting petitioners are still here. Last night, Beijing police went looking for their targets and making arrests,” she said.

Subway security checks tightened, causing congestion and criticism

According to a video posted by X user “Yesterday,” Beijing abruptly heightened security checks at subway stations on Oct. 22 and 23, ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Fifth Plenum. The more cumbersome screening procedures reportedly caused severe congestion at multiple subway entrances, with long queues forming. The post claimed that at Beijing’s Fuxingmen subway station, the line stretched for hundreds of meters and commuters waited more than 30 minutes to enter.

The blogger criticized the measures, writing: “These excessive stability-maintenance measures, which waste public resources and burden ordinary people, expose the dictator’s profound insecurity and tendency to regard everyone as an enemy.”

The video appeared to show a morning rush-hour scene, with a long queue stretching outside a subway entrance. Inside, the passageways leading into the station were also packed with commuters, creating crowded conditions.

At one security checkpoint, an angry passenger appeared to point at and berate a police officer. Several other police officers immediately gathered around the passenger.

Videos circulating online also claimed that, beginning Oct. 22, some entrances and exits at Beijing’s Qianmen and Tian’anmen West subway stations had been temporarily closed.

Another video showed a petitioner from Jinan, Shandong Province, who had traveled to Beijing. A security guard demanded that the person present a notification document issued by provincial authorities, warning that entry would otherwise be denied.

In response, the online user “Yunqi” criticized the measures, writing: “A single meeting has turned the daily lives of tens of millions of people into an enemy-threat exercise. Is this really about protecting the regime, or is it about tormenting the people?! This hair-trigger approach to stability maintenance is nothing more than a fig leaf concealing their guilt and brutality.”

October also includes several politically sensitive anniversaries. Oct. 13 marked the fourth anniversary of the Sitong Bridge protest in Beijing.

On Oct. 13, 2022, shortly before the CCP’s 20th National Congress, dissident Peng Lifa hung banners from Sitong Bridge protesting the CCP’s pandemic-control measures and calling for the removal of Xi Jinping.