China’s ruling Communist Party has pledged to “resolutely clamp down on infiltration & sabotage activities of hostile forces” after the largest street demonstrations since decades, which were organized by people fed up with anti-virus restrictions.

The statement released by the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission late Tuesday is amid massive forceful security services’ efforts to prevent a repeat of the protests that broke out in several cities over the weekend, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and many other.

Although it didn’t address the protests directly, the statement serves to remind the party of its determination to enforce its rule.

On Wednesday, hundreds of vans, SUVs, and armored vehicles flashing with lights were parked on the streets. Police and paramilitary officers conducted random ID checks and checked people’s phones for any photos, banned apps, or other evidence suggesting that they took part in demonstrations.

It is unknown how many people were detained during the protests or in subsequent police actions.

Although footage and reports of protests were posted online, they were removed by government censors. However, the state media has completely ignored them.

Additional distractions included Wednesday night’s national news, which was dominated by Jiang Zemin’s death at the age of96 as former president and Communist Party leader.

Jiang was appointed leader shortly before the brutal suppression of 1989 student-led prodemocracy movement centered around Beijing’s Tiananmen square. He later presided over a period of rapid economic growth in the 1990s and 2000s, while maintaining strict party control.

After an extended session Monday, Chen Wenqing (a member of the Politburo’s 24-member Politburo), issued the statement. It stated that the meeting was intended to review the results of October’s 20th party Congress.

Xi was awarded a third five year term as secretary general. This could make him China’s leader for ever. He also stacked key bodies with loyalists, and eliminated opposing voices.

The statement stated that the meeting “emphasized the need for effective measures by political and legal institutions to… safeguard national security and social safety.”

It stated that it was necessary to “resolutely combat infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces in compliance with the law”, and to “resolutely clamp down on illegal and criminal actions that disrupt social order and effectively preserve overall social stability.”

Xi is now facing his greatest public challenge, just a month after seemingly securing his political future, unrivaled dominance and political future.

The party and he have not yet addressed the unrest that spread to colleges campuses and to the semi-autonomous south city of Hong Kong. It also sparked sympathy protests in other countries.

Protesters focused most of their anger on the “zero COVID” policy, which has put millions in lockdown and quarantine. This has limited their access to food as well as medicine and severely restricted travel. Many mocked government’s constantly changing line of reasoning and claimed that “hostile external foreign forces” were causing the anger wave.

Bolder voices demanded more freedom and democracy, and that Xi (China’s most powerful leader for decades) and the party he heads to resign — speech considered subversive is punishable by long prison sentences. To demonstrate their inability to free speech, some held up pieces of blank white paper.

Protests erupted over the death of at least 10 victims in a fire that broke out in China’s far West on Nov. 24, prompting angry questions online about whether anti-virus controls were used to stop firefighters and victims fleeing.

Although authorities relaxed some controls, they announced a new push for vaccinating vulnerable groups following demonstrations. However, they maintained that they would not change their “zero-COVID” strategy.

Although the party had previously promised to reduce disruptions last month, a rapid rise in infections put party leaders under pressure to tighten their controls to stop future outbreaks. Wednesday’s report by the National Health Commission showed that 37,612 cases had been identified in the past 24 hours. However, the death toll stood at 5,233.

Tsinghua University in Beijing, where protestors gathered over the weekend, as well as other schools in Beijing and the southern province Guangdong, sent students home to try and ease tensions. Chinese leaders are cautious about universities, which have been hotbeds for activism such as the Tiananmen demonstrations.

The police appeared to be trying not to let their crackdown show, perhaps to discourage others from seeing the scale of the protests. The party’s extensive online censorship apparatus deleted all videos and posts about protests on Chinese social media.

While “zero COVID” has kept case numbers lower than in the United States, global health experts, including the head at the World Health Organization, increasingly believe it is not sustainable. China dismissed the comments as irresponsible.

According to the International Monetary Fund’s head, Beijing must be “very targeted” in order to minimize economic disruptions, he told The Associated Press Tuesday.

However, experts in economics and health warn that Beijing cannot relax the controls that prevent most tourists from China until millions of older adults are vaccinated. That could mean that “zero COVID”, as they call it, might not last for another year.

On Wednesday, U.S. Nicholas Burns, U.S. Ambassador to China, stated that restrictions made it impossible for U.S. diplomats, among others, to meet with American prisoners held in China as required by international treaty. The embassy must use monthly charter flights to transport its staff in and out of China because there are no commercial airlines that fly into the country.

In an online conversation with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, he stated that “COVID” is “really dominating all aspects of life” in China.

Burns stated that the embassy was monitoring their progress and the government’s response to the protests but added, “We believe that the Chinese people have the right to peacefully protest.”

They have the right to express their opinions. They have the right to be heard. It’s a fundamental human right all over the globe. It should be. He said that this right should not be impeded and shouldn’t be obstructed.”

Burns also mentioned instances in which Chinese police detained foreign journalists covering protests.

He stated that he supports freedom of expression and press freedom.

When asked about foreign support for the protesters by Chinese Foreign Ministry,