Massive police presence, students being sent home: How Chinese government is smothering protests

Streets in China have been relatively calm and protest-free on Monday and Tuesday (November 28,29) after massive demonstrations on the weekend. Protests have been smothered by the Chinese authorities with heavy police presence and intimidation tactics. Several protests were cancelled on Monday and Tuesday owing to police action. 

Here's what happened after the weekend protests in China: 

Police presence: China's top security agency, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, called for a crackdown on "infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces".

• On Monday and Tuesday, hordes of police officers lined up at parts of Beijing and Shanghai after being tipped off about demonstrations planned there. 
• At the Urumqi/Wulumuqi road in Shanghai, which had become the main protest site on the weekend, tall barricades were set up along the road and sidewalks to make any gathering virtually impossible. 

These are the scenes at Wulumuqi Road in Shanghai this morning, scene of initial protests on Saturday night. It’s open but with big blue barricades along the pavement and very heavy police presence.
We saw one man dragged away by police, seemingly for lingering too long! pic.twitter.com/3G8BTXBkOL

— Helen-Ann Smith (@HelenAnnSmith0) November 28, 2022

• In one case, around 150 police officers reportedly showed up at a busy shopping area in Shenzhen after reports of protests planned in the area. 

Phones checked, people detained: A viral video also shows Chinese authorities checking the phones of passersby and those at a subway station in Shanghai. 

In the Shanghai subway, Chinese communist police started to illegally search everyone's cell phones. This has violated China's own laws and the UN Human Rights Charter, basic human rights.pic.twitter.com/zQqN2bwqqg

— Inty (@__Inty__) November 29, 2022

• CNN reported that a protester saw the police looking to see if anyone had installed virtual private networks (VPNs) that can be used to bypass China's Great Firewall. 
• Reports say that protests were coordinated and safety information for protesters shared on platforms like Telegram, Instagram, and Twitter, which are banned in China. 

Sources in #Shanghai are now telling me that police are now stopping people and checking their phones to see if there are any apps like Telegram, Instagram, and Twitter that have been used a lot to share updates of the protests with the outside world. #China

— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) November 28, 2022

• Some people reportedly had their phones confiscated by the police. They were also taken to the police station and released after some time. They reportedly had their WeChat uninstalled and their photos deleted. 
• Some demonstrators who took part in the protests on the weekend told AFP that they had received phone calls from people identifying as the police. They were told that if they were unhappy with local authorities then they should complain to the police.

SHOCKING: Police in Shanghai, China are currently stopping people and searching passers-by's mobile phones for content about the covid protests.#XiJinping #China#定要幾個要搞 #ChinaProtests #做公民不做奴隶 pic.twitter.com/U4m4C170CL

— Russia Ukraine Conflict (@Russiaconflict) November 29, 2022

• In one case, a police officer reportedly visited the house of a protester after she failed to answer her calls. She was also taken to the police and then released. 
• The demonstrators say that while some of them did not wear masks making it easy for the police (with China's mass surveillance) to track them down, some who were face masks were also contacted. It is unknown how the police are managing to track down the protesters. 

• On the other hand, a new Apple iOS update has limited AirDrop sharing for "Everyone" in China. Instead, Chinese iPhone users can only use AirDrop set to "Everyone for 10 mins".

Apple has released a software update limiting the use of AirDrop in China in light of recent protests.

AirDrop was being used by protesters to transmit info directly phone to phone, bypassing the Great Firewall of China. pic.twitter.com/2UNtOeuTBZ

— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) November 28, 2022

Universities: The Chinese authorities also moved to quell any discontent at universities in China by emptying out campuses. 

• Chinese authorities are encouraging students to head back home and continue distance learning citing Covid measures. They are also arranging for transport. 
• But reports say the authorities are doing so to stamp out any student demonstrations or gatherings. 
• At least 10 universities have sent students home, with classes and exams to be conducted online. 
• China has a long history of student-led movements. Even the Chinese Communist Party has its roots in 1919 student-led demonstrations in Beijing's universities. And the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 was also a student-led movement. 
• Over the weekend, students from the popular Tsinghua University to Communication University in Nanjing all staged protests, with some even calling for democracy. 

WATCH: Large protest at Beijing’s Tsinghua University in China over Covid lockdowns pic.twitter.com/BjoEcFKN2I

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) November 27, 2022

The zero-Covid policy: While China has refused to retract the draconian zero-Covid policy that has become the root cause of the protests, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that they adjusting the policy based on the changing circumstances.

Central authorities in China have also thrown the local authorities under the bus, blaming their "overzealous" implementation of the policy at the local level for problems.