Last week, the Chinese government moved to disperse protests that had been organized across China, calling for democratic change in the country. Hoping to imitate the "Jasmine Revolution" that toppled Tunisia's authoritarian government early in January and has since sparked a successful uprising ousting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and inspired numerous others across the Middle East that are still ongoing, the demonstrations were arranged by activists via online social networks.
The government responded swiftly through force and increased censorship. In Beijing and Shanghai, the police broke up fledgling protests. Protesters, western journalists covering the scene, and even passing shoppers were dragged away by the police and arrested. The Internet also faced further censorship as all references to the event, including the word jasmine, were blocked on search engines. Elsewhere across the country, human rights activists and other dissidents were either detained or warned by the government to stay away from such events.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/27/us-china-protest-idUSTRE71Q0TF20110227
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