Bejingers take anti-terror to the streets

To enforce the capital's safety, Beijing launched a comprehensive anti-terrorist campaign on Friday, expanding prevention and control into all social levels, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The social forces involved are some 850,000 safety volunteers. They're parking lot workers, newspaper stands workers, representatives of residential buildings and other grassroots residents.

They're believed to be important forces in the whole structure of the anti-terrorist network and are able to contribute to the early warning system.

Volunteers formed a team of 100,000 to collect safety and stability information. They are assigned all over the city, with community heads as the leaders.

In the meantime, three rings of safeguarding lines were set to monitor traffic surrounding the capital, with checkpoints on the major roads.

In the area of public transportation, some 2,000 safety supervisors will be on duty by June on 31 bus routes, while 4,000 buses will have monitoring cameras on board.

The municipal public security bureau implemented a reward system since March 1 to encourage the reporting of anti-terrorist information.

Those who provide information on suspicious people, events, items and cars, can be awarded at least 40,000 yuan ($6,404) if the information proves to be helpful in preventing and solving major crimes.

"What is crucial to anti-terrorist and anti-violence work is collecting the information as fast as possible," an official with the Beijing Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security said.

Beijing stages largest anti-terror drill to date

Law enforcement authorities in Beijing conducted their largest anti-terrorist and anti-riot drill of the year on Thursday morning, with more than 2,800 police officers and 90 vehicles taking part.