Halloween costumes banned on Beijing subway

BEIJING, China — Those dressing up for Halloween in Beijing must stay off mass transit or face the consequences, a state-owned paper reported today. Costumed ghouls, ghosts, and witches who board China’s 465-kilometer-long subway system and cause “panic” could find themselves arrested, the Beijing News warned, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The crackdown on Halloween is part of a much broader, citywide security and beautification effort ahead of the APEC meeting in Beijing on Nov. 7. Other measures include carrying out anti-terrorist drills, ordering schools closed, and tightly restricting vehicles on the roads, in an effort to clean up the capital’s notorious pollution, the report said.

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