Chinese security forces have occupied the streets of major cities
Public protests in China entered a new phase on Monday, with students and other groups of Chinese people abroad increasingly joining the domestic protesters. However, the most important aspect of these recent protests is the proliferation of these gatherings, each forming on a small scale. The sheer number of these limited gatherings is causing trouble for Chinese security forces.
The solution that Chinese security officials have found to counter this situation is to use the pre-existing COVID-19 laws and protocols, which have severely restricted people’s movement. By leveraging these conditions and deploying the maximum number of security forces to naturally occupy the streets, their new effort is to prevent such gatherings from forming. It is clear that this will be a war of attrition for the Chinese authorities and security forces.