[18. February 2012] Sydney Morning Herald

Stepping foot on the main street in the small town of Aba, you cannot shake the ominous feeling that your every move is being watched.

Heavily armed police are set up at every intersection. Security personnel holding spiked clubs stand guard beside army trucks full of soldiers in riot gear. Roadblocks cut off the town at both ends, with every vehicle entering and leaving the town closely monitored and identity cards routinely checked.

Even low-level government officials more accustomed to pushing paper have been mobilised. Wearing red armbands emblazoned with the Chinese characters for “on duty”, they sit on stools by the road in groups of three or four for hours on end, ordered simply to keep watch. Read more