BEIJING - Beijing on Friday started selling fireworks within the city's downtown areas as residents prepare to celebrate the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year.

Customers can now buy fireworks at around 1,500 temporary roadside stores within the 5th Ring Road in the Chinese capital.

This year the Beijing Municipal Administration of Work Safety banned sales of fireworks that are over 30 centimeters in diameter, citing safety reasons.

All of the makeshift stores are also installed with video cameras so that the Beijing Municipal Administration of Work Safety can check their safety conditions in a timely manner, according to the work safety agency.

The Spring Festival, an occasion for family reunions, falls on January 23 this year. People usually set off fireworks to celebrate the most important traditional holiday.

Many cities, however, have instituted bans on fireworks, which can pollute the air and lead to injuries and even deaths.

Beijing lifted such a ban in 2005, but restricted setting off fireworks to within certain areas during a 16-day period around the Spring Festival to reduce accidents and the impact on citizens' lives.