China mobilises police forces to deter zero-COVID protests

Chinese universities are now sending students home in an attempt to tighten COVID restrictions.

The country’s police personnel are massively deployed in the streets of cities like Beijing and Shanghai to prevent people’s protests against the coronavirus-related lockdowns, CaliberAz reports, citing DW.

A supervisory official of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration Cheng Youquan said that public complaints over COVID-19 restrictions are due to their implantation rather than the measures themselves: "The problems highlighted by the public are not aimed at the epidemic and control itself. Protesters' demands focus on simplifying prevention and control measures".

Residents told several media outlets that the police are going through their phones to check for suspicious content, usage of virtual private networks (VPN) or the Telegram app, which is being used to coordinate protests.

In Beijing, the police particularly patrolled across the Liangma river promenade near the diplomatic quarter where hundreds of protesters had gathered on the November 27 evening.

On November 27 night, a busload of demonstrators were reportedly taken away by the police in Shanghai. On November 28, a planned protest did not take place as dozens of police officers choked the crossroad near the assembly point in the city.