(AGI) – Beijing, 24 Aug. – Maximum alert in China, waiting for October 1, the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Hundreds of roadblocks have been set up over the weekend to monitor all entry and exit points around Beijing, on roads and bridges, while police units patrol the underground lines.
  To enhance security measures even further, hundreds of volunteers will carry out surveillance operations on any suspect activity coinciding with the celebrations of the National Day.
  The local media already pointed out that the security measures are even tighter than those set up during the Olympic Games, in 2008: the plan, in fact, is to anticipate any disorder during the anniversary day, a very critical date, mainly following the riots in the Western Xinjiang region in July, during which 200 people lost their lives and which, according to Chinese authorities, had been orchestrated by the Uigur Muslim separatists. “Tibetans and Uigurs in the Xinjiang may not want to miss this opportunity,” said Wang Taiyuan, professor at the University of Public Security. On October 1, 1949, communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, after his troops defeated the nationalist army, which fled to Taiwan.