Scores of Beijing police, clad in riot gear and rain slickers, were seen yesterday marching artists out of the Luomahu, or Roma Lake, Art District ahead of its sudden demolition, purportedly under the auspices of China’s sweeping campaign against organised crime. Similarly, about 30 riot police moved into Beijing’s Huantie Art District on Sunday (7 July) to begin eviction of the several hundred artists with studios there.
Notices were only posted in Huantie on Sunday, and “the government just gives us seven days” to move, says Canon Duan, an artist with a studio at Huantie. Images of the notice from the Jiangtai Village Management that were plastered around the district shared with The Art Newspaper attribute the abrupt removal to a government crackdown on mafia activity; the text likens artists to “security problems" and "unstable factors”.
Notices were only posted in Huantie on Sunday, and “the government just gives us seven days” to move, says Canon Duan, an artist with a studio at Huantie. Images of the notice from the Jiangtai Village Management that were plastered around the district shared with The Art Newspaper attribute the abrupt removal to a government crackdown on mafia activity; the text likens artists to “security problems" and "unstable factors”.
