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Xi’s security detail: 11,000 police, helicopters, 2-m high barricades

HONG KONG — A massive security blanket was in place in Hong Kong yesterday as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the city.

HONG KONG — A massive security blanket was in place in Hong Kong yesterday as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the city.

Large parts of the former British colony were shut down as thousands of police officers took to the streets to keep away demonstrators angry at Beijing’s tightening grip on a region with almost eight million people.

Pro-democracy activists had staged protests ahead of Mr Xi’s visit and more were expected, with an annual march through the streets planned for tomorrow that has drawn big crowds in the past.

Hong Kong authorities were taking no chances with disruptions, saying that they are taking “counter-terrorism security measures” to ensure the Chinese leader’s safety.

Some 11,000 officers, more than a third of the Hong Kong police force, were deployed during Mr Xi’s visit, which comes three years after huge pro-democracy protests crippled the semi-autonomous city for months as “Umbrella Movement” campaigners camped out on thoroughfares.

The officers were deployed at different observation posts along the official motorcade route to stop protesters from gathering, security sources told the South China Morning Post.

Helicopters hovered overhead and police and barricades lined the streets around a downtown hotel complex and convention centre where the main handover anniversary ceremony will take place. Both areas were under complete lockdown, ringed by 2m-high water-filled barriers.

The authorities even glued the gaps between sidewalk paving stones in an effort to prevent them from being torn up and thrown by protesters.

Assistant police commissioner Cheng Yiu-mo said any use of drones above Victoria Harbour, directly beside Mr Xi’s hotel and the convention centre, would be treated as a terrorist act.

The lockdown reflects Beijing’s concern that nothing should be allowed to taint the high-profile visit, ahead of a key Communist Party congress later this year which is expected to cement Mr Xi’s position as the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation.

Ahead of his arrival yesterday, more than 100 journalists went through security checks before arriving on the apron at the city’s airport.

Dozens of umbrellas were confiscated by airport security guards, who claimed they had always been banned on the apron. AGENCIES

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