The police have tightened their surveillance even more and universities have sent students home to stop the protests.
Demonstrations against the extremely strict corona restrictions subsided today, Tuesday, in China’s major cities.
The police have been heavily present on the streets in places like Beijing and Shanghai to prevent the protests from continuing.
An unknown number of people who participated in the demonstrations have been arrested and surveillance has been tightened even more. The police have contacted those who participated in the protests. It is not known exactly how the authorities have ascertained the identities of those who were at the demonstrations.
The protests of the past few days have been the biggest in years in China. In different parts of China, thousands of people participated in them during the weekend. Some of the demonstrations have also demanded the president Xi Jinping break up.
Students have been transported to the stations
Today, information has come about a smaller protest than the one organized in Hong Kong the previous few days.
In Beijing, for example, the large Tsinghua University and many other educational institutions have sent students home for an early vacation.
At least Tsinghua University has organized bus rides for students to the railway and airport stations for the journey home.
Yesterday, the university closed nine student dormitories due to the corona virus. A student who appeared only by his first name because of fear of the authorities Chen told the AP news agency that the closing of the dormitories will make it difficult for students to gather.
Students have also been sent home from Guangdong province.
The universities have justified sending students home as a precautionary measure decided due to the corona, but the aim is also to prevent demonstrations.
Universities are trying to relieve tension by emptying campuses, says a China expert Dali Yang from the University of Chicago for AP.
People were stopped in the streets
The mood in China has been described as nervous after police arrested protesters and warned people not to participate in the protests.
For example, in Shanghai, according to eyewitnesses, the police have stopped people and checked mobile phones. The purpose of the police was apparently to look for pictures of protests or to find applications banned in China.
In Beijing, the police have visited the homes of those who took part in the demonstrations and warned them not to participate in any more protests, an anonymous eyewitness tells AP.
Fresh protests started in Urumqi last Thursday after a fire that claimed at least ten lives. According to the demonstrators, the corona restrictions slowed down the rescue work.
China’s extremely strict corona restrictions have curbed the spread of the corona. However, international experts consider China’s corona measures to be unsustainable.
Citizens’ tolerance for restrictive measures has begun to decrease in China. In some areas, people are practically confined to their homes for months at a time.
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