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In the Chinese city of Qingtongxia in the autonomous region of Ningxia, a man's sense of humor has become dangerous: As reported by the US broadcaster CNN, he ended up in police custody for nine days for posting a meme in a group chat.
On it was a dog with a police hat, who is holding an ID card in his right hand and pointing at the viewer with his left index finger.
The man, of whom only the last name Li is known, had switched the well-known meme on the WeChat media platform and complained in the group of more than 330 members about the state's strict preventive measures in the corona pandemic.
This had been interpreted as an insult to the officials.
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The People's Republic has a strict zero-Covid policy and has imposed local lockdowns, mass tests, travel restrictions and other emergency measures in the past few weeks to prevent the virus from spreading.
The harsh actions of the authorities against the man had caused criticism across the country.
According to Chinese media reports, a citizen complained to the local police station on Saturday that the meme was damaging the reputation of the police.
This is what the Chinese newspaper "The Paper" reports.
The author of the post was then appointed to the Presidium and questioned about the matter.
He had "confessed to have insulted the police," it said.
The authorities found that Li was guilty of rioting with his behavior.
He was to be taken into custody for nine days.
There are only isolated protests against the strict pandemic measures in China.
Two men were arrested in October for attempting to climb the fence in a closed community.
On social media, some complain about the psychological and economic consequences of the lockdowns.
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