Protests in China against Xi Jinping’s stringent zero-Covid policy are on the rise and it has now spread to several cities. Chinese authorities have moved quickly to suppress demonstrations deploying police forces at key protest sites and tightening online censorship.

In a twitter post, several men in hazmat suits were seen stopping Chinese human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, and his wife Xu Yan when they tried to go downstairs to throw out garbage. Both were later put under house arrest. Xu Yan in the twitter post also claimed that the men in hazmat suits did not tell them their names and titles.

In another video, both Yu and a man in hazmat suit were seen lying on the ground, and the reason for that remains unknown.

Soon after been put under house arrest,

Yu Wensheng posted a video on twitter and said, “Xu Yan and I are now locked up at home. Their behavior is not only a crime against us personally, but a crime against the entire Chinese people and the people of the world. We firmly oppose their zero-Covid policy.”

He also issued a letter and urged world leaders to press the Chinese government to end its repressive zero-Covid policy.