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Massive police presence and threats halted further protests in China

Massive police presence and threats halted further protests in China

In the capital Beijing and in metropolises such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, security forces can be seen on the streets. Often passers-by are stopped. They must identify themselves and show their cell phones, which have been scanned for suspicious content or programs such as tunnel services (VPN) to bypass Chinese censorship. Young Chinese in particular had arranged to meet at demonstrations over the weekend with encrypted messengers such as Telegram and distributed images and videos of the protests on platforms such as Twitter. Both services cannot be used in China without VPNs.

“We are all desperate to delete our chats,” report participants in the protests. Thanks to face recognition, the demonstrators still have to fear that they will be personally summoned and warned by the police in the next few days.

vaccinations and propaganda

However, the leadership in Beijing is now aware that the protests at the weekend, in which only a few thousand people took part nationwide, could at any time turn into a wildfire. The regime is now desperately looking for a face-saving way out of the rigorous zero-Covid policy. The State Council therefore announced a new vaccination campaign for the elderly. If the vaccination rate would actually increase, it would be an official reason for opening the country.

Chinese propaganda, meanwhile, tried to divert anger at the harsh corona policy. The state media has been flooded with reports of allegedly corrupt companies making big bucks from bulk PCR testing. This topic has the potential to draw attention given the long-standing criticism of the companies making money from mass testing.

There also appears to be a limited effort to appease public anger through limited relaxation of coronavirus policies. There is now more and more talk of more precise measures that are intended to affect public life less than before. The announcement, for example, that certain social groups such as pensioners and schoolchildren in online classes will in future be exempt from the regular requirement for PCR tests is praised as a role model. The construction of an isolation camp for suspected corona cases was also stopped with publicity. In Beijing, many block leaders also ended the strict exit restrictions.

Source: Nachrichten

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