To emulate the Middle East uprisings, the U.S.-based Chinese website boxun has called for protests every Sunday at 2 p.m. That's overnight Saturday in the U.S.
While we slept last night,
"... thousands of Chinese police deployed in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities to clamp down on public gatherings after a second week of overseas Internet-based calls for protests across the country."
That's coverage from the McClatchy newspapers blog China Rises, which has had consistent coverage.
More:
"While a small band of protestors came together in Shanghai on Sunday, they were quickly dispersed by police. Authorities in Beijing went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that not only did no crowds form, but that journalists stayed away from the non-event.
There were more police present in uniform and undercover, some with canine units, than are called to handle bomb scares in many countries. Foreigners at the Wangfujing Street shopping area in central Beijing, the announced meeting site, were stopped at every turn and asked for their passports. Police or their surrogates took several western journalists away for questioning, turned back TV camera crews and reportedly shoved or assaulted at least three photographers.
In addition, water trucks rode up and down Wangfujing, spraying the road and sidewalk to keep people moving. Even street sweepers had evidently been told to discourage groups from forming; they hit bystanders’ feet with brooms and said “move” repeatedly."
Here's the whole post.
(Photo from EarthPhotos.com. See more in the China Gallery there.)
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