Security stepped up in Tiananmen Square: official media

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing police have stepped up security in politically sensitive Tiananmen Square in a bid to stop terrorist attacks ahead of the Olympic Games, state media said Tuesday.

New regulations allowing for more random searches of individuals went into effect on Monday in an effort to prevent people entering the square with potentially dangerous items, Xinhua news agency said.

"Security around Tiananmen is very important and has great international influence," the report quoted Zhang Peili, a Beijing legal official, as saying.

"The revision (of regulations) will help prevent and stop all kinds of extremist and terrorist incidents and maintain public security."

The regulations allow for unannounced searches of individuals and vehicles and the seizure of any potentially dangerous items at any time, it said.

The China Daily reported that these measures were normally only put in place for special occasions and holidays.

Police will be on the lookout for "explosives, poisonous and radioactive articles, guns, knives, drugs and other items that pose risks to social order and public security," Xinhua said.

Tiananmen Square, considered the political symbol of communist China, is where revolutionary Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949.

It has served as a gathering area for numerous political movements including the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the mourning of the death of former premier Zhou Enlai in April 1976 and the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

More recently, in July 2001, several adherents of the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement set themselves on fire on the square in protest over the government's nationwide ban of the group.

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