Beijing Beefs Up Security: No Fireworks

Crackers and fireworks will be banned across Beijing from July 1 to Oct. 8 for safety considerations before and during the Olympics and the Paralympics, the city's safety administration said Monday. According to new regulations published on the administration's website, Beijing's cracker and fireworks ban, formerly applicable only in the city proper, will be extended to outer areas beyond the Fifth Ring Road.

Crackers and fireworks are banned in Beijing's city proper except for the festive week of the Chinese Lunar New Year. But the festive explosives are almost always available in outer Beijing, where dealers have distribution and storage facilities. The new regulations will request them to suspend operation during the ban and put away all their stocks at warehouses designated by the safety authority. To tighten up safety during the Games, Beijing Work Safety Administration has also requested round-the-clock safety watch at gasoline stations within 300 meters to all Olympic venues. During the 14-week ban, the safety watchdog will stop approving new projects involving the production or distribution of highly toxic chemicals. Businesses and individuals who buy existing toxic chemicals during this period will need to register their names, ID reference, names and quantity of the chemicals, as well as purposes of the purchase.

Meanwhile, hazardous chemical workshops, warehouses, distributors and mines have to report to the local safety watchdog on a weekly basis in July and daily in August. The city will also ban the use of liquid chlorine as a disinfection agent because the chemical stings eyes and can be toxic. Source