Shanghai - Shanghai police have told the owner of two gay bars to close during President Clinton's three-day visit to the city, citing security concerns.
"The Public Security Bureau came to tell us to close down for a few days for security reasons because Clinton will be having a party near us," said Mr Wang Guanghui.
Mr Wang, who has taken off for a holiday in Shenyang in northern Liaoning province, said Eddie's and Eddie's Two had been closed since Saturday and will only reopen on Friday. The closure of the bars, which were very popular with expatriates, would give regular customers a very bad impression and cost 50,000 yuan (£4,312) to 60,000 yuan (£5,174) in lost earnings, said Mr Wang. "The people from police headquarters were quite polite but those from the district level did not have a good attitude. They were ordering us around," Mr Wang said. Mr Wang said he did not believe security concerns were the reason for the closure as "our customers are from higher levels in society and are mainly foreigners". An expatriate teacher, who frequents the bars, was outraged at the closure saying authorities had allowed other bars "crawling with [female] prostitutes to remain open." China does not recognise homosexuality, forcing many gays to get married to hide their sexual tendencies, while others go underground but the community is beginning to come out into the open.