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IT WAS THE best of shows, it was the worst of shows: as 12,000 troops and hundreds of tanks and missiles rolled through Tiananmen Square in front of invited guests and foreign leaders, Beijing residents were barred from watching.
Barricades were set up hundreds of metres from the parade marking 70 years since Japan’s World War II defeat, and squads of police and blue-shirted volunteers blocked access to the deserted streets.
Residents whose homes overlooked the route itself were ordered not to go onto their balconies or even open their windows.
Crowds of around a hundred citizens gathered at intersections to try to catch a glimpse of the hardware as it rolled by in the distance, but were disappointed.
“Of course I’m proud, I’m Chinese,” translator Zhao Yufeng told AFP. “But I think more people would feel more involved if we could see the soldiers and tanks.”
Instead most watched the live broadcast on mobile phones, as the city took on an atmosphere of years past, with residents sitting out on the streets chatting or playing cards.
A man in his 20s surnamed Guo said he understood the need for security, but was sceptical of the authorities’ handling of the event.
“We’ve been brainwashed from such a young age to hate Japanese, we call them ghosts, so it’s easy for the leadership to justify a massive show of force today,” he said.
But as President Xi Jinping began speaking, Guo cut the live broadcast and pocketed his smartphone. “He’s not going to say anything interesting,” he said.
For some, the parade restrictions were an expensive imposition.
Wang Xingyu and his wife have a noodle shop close to the parade route and sleep in a room behind the kitchen. They only go home to visit their families in the mountainous northern province of Shaanxi once a year.
They are open seven days a week, but their hard work has been interrupted by the commemorations, which saw them forced to close for two days.
“We’re losing money and no one cares about us,” Wang said, visibly flustered. “Maybe if we could open, people would come, eat and they could watch theparade on our television.
“Instead, everyone is just standing around here with nothing to do,” he added. “And we can’t even see anything!”
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Great to see President Clinton looking so well at 71 after all the stories about I’ll health in recent years.
@Donal Hanley: just heard him on the radio, he doesn’t sound that well
@Donal Hanley: He looks ghastly.
Why was Denis O’Brien at the event?
@Michael Lang: well, there goes the “comment closed” train if anyone answers that!
@Gulliver Foyle: FG supporters always go very quiet and slightly menacing if I raise Denis O’Brien in polite company.
@Michael Lang: O’Brien is good friends with the Clintons.
@Daniel Donovan: and did Denis O’Brien play a role in the Good Friday Agreement?
@Michael Lang: No! Try Haiti. The Clinton Foundation. Donations. Contracts. The lack of rebuilding in Haiti despite millions pouring in is sickening. Bill Clinton was appointed to spearhead the re development. Not a lot has been done.
@Michael Lang: Quiet and menacing account tje same time? That’s quote a feat.
@John Campbell: And lowry still has his seat. what’s wrong with the voters in tipperary north?
@Michael Lang: he sorted the boys out with mobile phones
3 items with Billy Clinton in the journal in the one day! Is he thinking of running for Micheal D’s job
All this back slapping is vomit enducing, there maybe peace “of sorts” but the inherent despising of both communicaties of each other is palpable. The cost of maintaining this farcical truce has been obscene, either through outrageous subsidising or schemes that earn trouble makers vast sums to behave themselves. Interesting also, Clinton and Ahern taking all the credit, both of dubious and flawed character.
@Joseph Dempsey: ask the people who weren’t murdered over the last 20 years if they think it was worth it.
@Joseph Dempsey: I was sceptical at the time and I voted against it. I grew up in the border region and wasn’t happy that men who had murdered people I knew were going to be freed from prison after serving very little time. But while that still bothers me I am happy to say that I was wrong for voting no because the positives have far outweighed the negatives and peace has lasted. I didn’t think it would.
The right politicians were in power at the right time. No way would Trump, May, Leo, O’Neill and Foster have had the balls or the know-how to do what those guys did. The current crop would never even have gotten around a table.
Yea it was a fantastic agreement but something new is needed, the shower up the road care more for Language Acts, Flags and Parades than governing. The Bomb maybe out of politics up there but the two communities still have major issues with each other.
We need the middle ground to rise again up there or a party that is not stuck in the past and can attract voters from both sides.
@Philip Morgan: The middle ground is knowing how better Ireland would be as one sovereign nation, recognising the diversity of cultures and working hard to make Ireland a better place for everyone. One hundred years on from partition we must count the cost of division and look to a better future. No point in celebrating anything until we recognise the mistakes made by earlier generations and make an effort to fix Ireland.
Tells a terrible analogy & manages to spoil black panther at the same time. Keep on trucking bill
This is what my college fees are going towards? Joke…
tiresome back slapping pike of self congratulatory nonsense, however bill at least managed to stay awake. Just curious has anyone noticed, nothing has actually REALLY changed. Bertie has some neck all the same, at least clinton was gracious enough to mention both John Major and Albert Reynolds, both of whom actually started the process, mean while outside, bigoted Peter Robinson couldn’t contain his hatred “how’s the missus Peter? still got a large small on her face??
I don’t watch many films, can anyone expand on the why bill is like a panther who’s specific colour is blank, unlike all the other panthers I’ve seen :-/
have your say