China Feature: A New Location for Protests?

1030 GMT: The Associated Press posts its summary of today's events in China: "Jittery Chinese authorities staged a show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a 'Jasmine Revolution' apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East."

0845 GMT: Police take away a protester in Shanghai:

0745 GMT: It appears that the flutter of protest is over. Police have dispersed the gatherings in Beijing. What is left are defiant messages on the Internet: "The seeds of freedom have also been broadcasting [to] the people. We tell the ruling class...to use action. The power is in the hands of the people. Their time is running out, and if we do not reform, people will come to write history."

There are still some claims of protest, such as a report that in the northern city of Harbin, police cars blocked central square as protesters moved toward the Sofia Church area.

0715 GMT: Police have been deployed at a supposed protest location, Renmin Park, in the southern city of Guangzhou.

0655 GMT: Despite the regime's efforts, there has been a gathering in Wangfujing in Beijing:

And an apparent protest established itself outside McDonald's:

0645 GMT: Suddenly, the Internet is awash with talk of protests in China.

AFP, who reported this morning that up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday after  a Web campaign called for commemoration of the "Jasmine" uprisings in the Middle East.

The campaign, apparently fuelled by posts on overseas websites run by exiled Chinese political activists, called for demonstration in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and 10 other Chinese cities. Slogans would include "We want food to eat", "We want work", "We want housing", "We want justice", "Long live freedom", and "Long live democracy".

Human rights attorney Ni Yulan said, "Many rights defenders have disappeared in recent days, others are under house arrest and their mobile phones are blocked. "The police detachment outside my door has increased. They follow us if we go out." 

Searches Sunday for "jasmine" on China's Twitter-like micro-blog Weibo produced no results, and messages on the Baidu search engine said that due to laws and regulations such results were unavailable. Some Chinese Internet search pages listed "Jasmine" entries, but links to them were blocked.

In a speech on Saturday, Chinese President Hu Jintao acknowledged growing social unrest and urged the ruling Communist Party to safeguard stability as he ordered strengthened controls over "virtual society" and the Internet.