More than 90 percent of Beijing's entertainment venues have security cameras installed and customers are required to undergo security checks in large nightclubs, say the capital's police.

 

"About 950 entertainment venues have installed monitoring cameras in key sites, accounting for 95 percent of the total," said He Angang, deputy commissar of the public order management department of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

 

The video data from these venues should be kept for a month in case police required it, said He.

 

Thirty-four nightclubs had been equipped with security inspection devices to check customers.

 

The Beijing police launched in May a campaign to clean up entertainment venues, especially those suspected of involvement in drugs crimes. More than 780 venues were ordered to close for one to six months due to their illegal or irregular business, the bureau said.

 

All the entertainment venues in Beijing had employed security guards.

 

The municipal government has approved a compulsory safety requirement for crowded places, including restaurants and entertainment venues to prevent accidents.

 

The central government has also strengthened supervision in order to clean up entertainment venues in recent years, shutting down illegal Internet bars and cracking down on pornography.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)