On March 10, ahead of the 18th anniversary of the 2008 “March 14 incident” in Lhasa, Tibet, several military veterans who participated in the suppression of demonstrating monks in Lhasa shared their personal experiences on Chinese social media platforms. They recounted that due to insufficient armed police forces, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was ordered by superiors to wear armed police uniforms and pose as armed police to suppress the monks. These soldiers also stated: “Shoot as soon as you see red (monks)”, “wipe out everything taller than a wheel, a certain village”, “rivers of blood”, and “fire trucks washing the ground.” Some soldiers also posted pictures of their commemorative medals from that time. Currently, the related content has been deleted.
Summary of Mass Protests in China (Published Cases) (February 2026)
In February 2026, a total of 43 mass protest events were recorded in China. Due to the Lunar New Year falling in this month, the number of mass protests saw a relative decline compared to usual.
I. Protesting Groups
Workers (18 incidents, 42%)
Composition: Construction workers (8), manufacturing workers (8), sanitation workers (2).
Core demands: All centered around labor-capital conflicts (demanding unpaid wages, protesting pay cuts, unreasonable shift/leave arrangements, company relocation evading compensation, etc.).
Families of the Deceased/Patients (6 incidents, 14%)
Seeking compensation for severe medical malpractice, seeking truth for a student’s suicide due to bullying, demanding accountability for an employee’s accidental death after a company drinking gathering, worker suicides, and resisting forced cremation (corpse-snatching conflicts), etc.
Farmers (5 incidents, 12%)
Resisting forced demolition, protesting environmental pollution by a cement plant, protesting the village committee’s unauthorized leasing of a collective school, demanding long-overdue land requisition compensation, etc.
Religious Believers (4 incidents, 9%)
Protesting the ban on traditional folk/deity-parading (Youshen) activities, protesting the authorities’ forced demolition of Mazu statues and ancestral halls.
Investors (2 incidents, 5%)
Mainly targeting financial investment fraud.
Other Groups (8 incidents, 18%)
Petitioners (2), students (1), corporate firefighters (1), community/substitute teachers (Min-Dai-You teachers) (1), military veterans (1), evictees (1), fishermen (1).
1 incident each in 7 other provinces/municipalities (Shanghai, Fujian, Xinjiang, Chongqing, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangxi).
III. Triggers and Causes
Worker Wage Arrears and Labor Conflicts (19 incidents, 44%): Unpaid wages, pay cuts, laid-off firefighters denied compensation, uncompensated company relocations, unreasonable Spring Festival leave arrangements, etc.
Conflicts between Public Power and Livelihood (13 incidents, 30%): Forced demolition of civilian homes/ancestral halls/temples and fishing rafts, defaulted demolition and land requisition compensation, bans on folk and deity-parading activities, unfair veteran resettlement, government corpse-snatching for forced cremation, cement plant pollution, etc.
Social Bottom Line and Trust Crises (7 incidents, 16%): Fatal medical malpractice, student suicide due to teacher bullying, worker jumping to death, demanding accountability for an employee’s accidental death at a gathering, lack of pension for community/substitute teachers, and a student “uprising” triggered by a school restricting personal freedom, etc.
Financial and Investment Fraud (2 incidents, 5%): Investment platform scams leading to collective petitioning by investors.
Blocked Petitioning/Rights Defense (2 incidents, 5%): Petitioners being violently intercepted, such as being bound with duct tape at train stations.
IV. Scale and Size Statistics
1-9 people: 3 incidents (7%)
10-99 people: 32 incidents (74%)
100-999 people: 8 incidents (19%). (Including: Uprising by students smashing school buildings in Dezhou, Shandong; strike by sanitation workers in Zhongshan, Guangdong; strike by workers at Hoshine Silicon in Xinjiang; strike by BYD workers in Xi’an; standoff by religious believers in Xi’an; strike by workers at Yura Corporation in Heze, Shandong; farmers blocking roads in Shaoyang, Hunan; farmers occupying the town government in Tangshan, Hebei).
V. Police Deployment and Violent Suppression
Police Presence Rate: Approx. 63% (police were deployed in 27 incidents).
Violent Dispersal or Arrests: In 10 incidents, clear violence, beatings, binding, or arrests of protesters by police occurred (accounting for 23% of total incidents).
Suppression Characteristics: Violent police arrests were mainly concentrated in “wage-demand protests,” “families demanding accountability,” and “land/forced demolition protests” (e.g., police in Dongguan tying up wage-demanding workers; police violently expelling wage-demanding workers at Wuhu Shipyard in Weihai; violent obstruction of ancestral hall construction in Zhangshan Town, Ji’an; clashes triggered by police entering a village to snatch a corpse in Fuyuan, Yunnan).
(Note: Because the Gaoyou event involved workers from three independent factories demanding unpaid wages, it is counted as three incidents.)
On March 10, after a patient died following treatment at Lixing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Tongxu County, Kaifeng, Henan, the family of the deceased went to the hospital to demand an explanation and burn joss paper. Judging from the comments section, this hospital appears to have a notorious track record of wrongdoing.
In Zhaoyang District, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, when houses in communities like Yunhu Tianjing and Sunac Jiutangfu were struggling the most to sell, the local government announced that buying a property would guarantee enrollment at Shenggeng School. However, after the houses were mostly sold out, they claimed the school lacked sufficient classrooms and redirected students to attend Taoyuan Primary School. On March 9, hundreds of parents gathered at the school to protest.
On March 9, in Wuhan, Hubei province, a man was left in a vegetative state following a failed minimally invasive surgery at the Hankou Campus of Tongji Hospital. His family members went to the hospital to demand an explanation.
On March 9, investors in ‘Huangjin Matou’ (Golden Wharf) in Putian, Fujian province, gathered once again at the Putian municipal government offices to demand the return of their investment funds. Huangjin Matou Group Co., Ltd., which had long used high interest rates as a lure to attract deposits, suffered a financial collapse at the end of last month, leaving thousands of victims.
On March 8, in Jiangxia District, Wuhan, Hubei province, homeowners from three residential communities—Poly Time Impression, Liantou Ideal Starlight, and Minmetals Wanjing Water Shore—staged a joint protest to defend their rights. They were protesting against Chuneng New Energy Co., Ltd. for constructing a battery factory just 200 meters away from their neighborhoods.
On March 8, homebuyers from ‘Dahe Shidai Courtyard 6’—a long-standing unfinished housing project in Xiangdu District, Xingtai City, Hebei Province—blocked traffic on Xinhua South Road after waiting an extended period to receive their homes. They were later dispersed by the police.
On March 6, the Binfen Beilei Training School in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, absconded with tuition fees, leaving hundreds of students with no classes to attend. Parents gathered collectively at the city government and other locations to defend their rights and seek redress. According to teachers at the school, they have not received their salaries either, and the school has been sealed off due to unpaid rent. Some parents claimed that the person in charge of the school has already fled abroad.
Documentary: “The Unified Resistance of Tens of Thousands: Lufeng, Guangdong Defies the Firecracker Ban”
In Lufeng, Guangdong, the Chinese New Year Youshen (Parade of the Gods) is the most grand, frenetic, and unifying traditional folk event of the year. To welcome the passing deities, villagers ignite mountainous piles of firecrackers and fireworks, engulfing the streets in thick smoke and deafening blasts. The scene is as staggering as a “battlefield”—a ritual used by locals to pray for a life that is “red and booming” (prosperous). However, in 2026, despite fierce opposition from the villagers, Lufeng authorities forcibly implemented a “firecracker ban,” prohibiting the practice during the festival. This ultimately ignited a large-scale citywide protest.
