Gulou Meeting "Squelched"

On Friday we broke the news that the public meeting called last Saturday by the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) to discuss controversial plans to “restore” the area around Gulou had been canceled. The CHP was only able to say the event had been canceled for “various reasons,” but today the Global Times has a report stating “police squelched” the meeting.

As is usual in these situations, the paper was unable to obtain official comment from the authorities, but the article says, “The reporter overheard a policeman complain to the owner of the meeting venue that the event was widely publicized. He was one of several policemen at the scene Saturday to supervise the cancellation. ‘Why should they post an online ad for the meeting?’ the policeman asked rhetorically."

Indeed. Why would you want to publicize a public meeting?

According to the Global Times article, the Gulou redevelopment “calls for the protection and reuse of historical buildings, similar to the model of the Qianmen street south of Tiananmen Square, which was transformed into a Old-Beijing-themed strip mall that even its developer disavows.”

You can read our original story about the redevelopment plans here.