NEWS
EVENTS
China turn Hangzhou into ghost town for G20 summit
It was China's first shot at hosting the G20 summit, and they weren't prepared to let anyone or anything fuck it up.
The G20 summit took place for the first time in China this year. Leaders from 20 countries and a mass of media types arrived in the Chinese megacity Hangzhou - a booming city of 6 million people - to discuss global issues.
Visitors to the mammoth city were surprised then, that the usually busy streets were pretty much deserted. The Chinese government effective turned this city into a ghost town, to ensure that the conference runs very smoothly.
The authorities had 'convinced' more than a third of the cities population to leave Hangzhou and declared a seven-day public holiday.
Building sites and factories were forced to close in a bid to reduce pollution and residents who lived in the apartment blocks surrounding the conference centre were ordered to leave. Dissidents were placed under house arrest or removed from the city too as a huge security operation took place with armed forces and SWAT dotted across the city.
