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Selfies and silence as China shuts down G20 host city

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Hangzhou, Sep 4 (AFP) The tranquil waters of Hangzhou’sWest Lake have inspired Chinese poets and painters forcenturies. Today the serenity was imposed by force asauthorities deployed a vast security operation for the G20summit. The throngs of tourists who usually crowd the shores ofthe island-dotted lake were absent and the surrounding roadsclosed off — except for police vehicles and the occasionalmotorcade of black luxury cars emblazoned with national flags. But when a handful of locals living in the immediate areawere allowed past the cordon, they took advantage of the emptystreets to embrace an untraditional pursuit: road-top selfies. Young people sat on the tarmac taking pictures ofthemselves, while others made star-shaped poses with theirarms and legs for friends to snap them. The streets spruced up for the benefit of leaders, treesglowing with artificial lights, made an ideal backdrop. State media say that more than two million people out ofa population of some nine million have left Hangzhou, takingadvantage of a paid holidays which local firms have beenordered to give employees. Local reports said so many people visited Huangshan, amountain range in the next province where Hangzhou residentswere given free tickets, that hillside passes turned intohuman traffic jams. Wealthier residents of apartments near the G20 venue wereoffered sizeable cash incentives to leave their homes. But treatment was apparently harsher for Hangzhou’s vastpopulation of migrant workers, with several saying they wereordered to shut their small businesses without compensation. "We were ordered to close our restaurant, so I’ve goneback to my hometown in Sichuan," said a woman surnamed Zhouwhom AFP reached by telephone. "We are losing money." "At the beginning we were told about compensation but itdidn’t happen," she added. Security is generally tight for G20 summits wherever theyare held, as they are a magnet for protesters seeking a globalaudience for their cause. State media say that since December one million peoplehave been mobilised as "volunteers". Red-armbanded personnel stand, squat or sit on streetcorners and inside apartment compounds throughout Hangzhou,apparently with little to do. A policeman prevented an AFP reporter from taking photosof the guards in one compound, and several volunteers saidthey needed authorisation to speak to foreign media. "I work for a state-owned enterprise, who have organisedthis volunteer work," said one armbanded worker surnamed Wang,sitting on a stool near a bus stop. "My job is to look our for people who get off the buswith dangerous items such as knives." (AFP)KJ

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