AGENCIES
AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 17
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Gujarat police didn’t want any untoward incident to mar the Chinese president’s visit to Ahmedabad. Keeping the objective in mind, the police asked the management of the hotel where Xi Jinping was staying to ask its staff from northeast to keep away from the venue on Wednesday. According to reliable sources, the police didn’t want anything or anybody to make a bad impression on Jinping.
“So, they have asked the management to communicate verbally with its northeast staff and those from Tibet and ask them to stay away from the venue,” sources said. It should be noted that the mall and hotel staff, even those from the northeast, had been issued passes. But they have since been told to keep away from the venue.Likewise, a police source said, “In order to avoid any conflict the police have asked the northeast and Tibetan staff at Hyatt hotel and AlphaOne Mall to stay away from the main venue where the function will take place.” The source added that the police might have taken the steps to avoid mistaking northeasterners as Tibetans. However, both — the police and the managements played it safe and refused to answer any questions related to the development. When contacted, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Special Branch Vikas Sahay said, “I am very busy, we will talk later.” Officials at Grand Hyatt hotel also refused to comment on the issue.
