China clamps down on ‘zero covid’ protests, loosens some pandemic measures

Small protests against China’s strict “zero covid” policy occurred in several cities Monday evening, as citizens defied a police crackdown and threats of reprisal, with Beijing blaming “foreign forces” even as authorities moved to vaccinate more seniors and relax some distancing measures.

From Hangzhou in the east to Kunming in the southwest and Beijing in the north, groups of people demonstrated by holding up blank paper — a symbol of state censorship — in solidarity with protesters in Shanghai, the first major city where the recent rallies against the zero covid measures...