China Formally Arrests Nine Over Covid Protests, Group Says

China formally arrested nine people in connection with a wave of Covid protests that swept the country in November, a human rights group said, even as Beijing unwinds the virus curbs that prompted the demonstrations.

Municipal prosecutors in Beijing have approved the arrests of nine people suspected of participating in demonstrations in the capital, according to Weiquanwang, a website that tracks human rights cases in China. They’re accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” the site said Friday, without disclosing where it got the information.