[citation needed] After participants and journalists had been beaten and arrested, organizers urged a change to "strolling" on 27 February to minimize police reactions while sustaining the cycle of actions.

Media sources reported that on 27 February, Stephen Engle of Bloomberg News and Damian Grammaticas of the BBC had been beaten by plainclothes security officers in Beijing.

[8] Since late February, about 35 human rights activists and lawyers were arrested[4] and five people were charged with inciting subversion of state power.

[9] The group, whose majority of members were based outside of China, made their calls on the Boxun blog, run by overseas dissidents, and then on Twitter.

[11] The Boxun.com appeal called for protests to take place each weekend,[3] arguing that "sustained action will show the Chinese government that its people expect accountability and transparency that doesn't exist under the current one-party system.

[8] The media reported a vindication by protest organizers on 2 March saying, "Now China's government clearly shows its horror and fear of the people, as if facing a deadly enemy.

Huntsman had previously stood outside a court in Beijing to protest the conviction of an American sentenced on espionage charges, as well as posting a message on Weibo about Internet freedom.

"[6] The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China denounced the attack on Engle, and called for journalists' physical safety to be guaranteed by the authorities.

[28] In Shanghai on 27 February, protestors prevented police from arresting an elderly man, when they "reacted instantly and angrily, emitting a guttural roar and surging forward almost as one", according to the South China Morning Post.

Participants included Legco member Leung Kwok Hung aka Long Hair and activists from the League of Social Democrats.

[38] Members of the League of Social Democrats tried to place a branch of jasmine in front of the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong.

[41] About 35 leading Chinese activists have been arrested or detained by authorities[30] including a leading Sichuan human rights activist Chen Wei,[5] Tiananmen Square protest student leader, Ding Mao,[5] well-known blogger Ran Yunfei, and Teng Biao of Open Constitutional Initiative.

[51] Analysts and other activists said Ai had been widely thought to be untouchable, but Nicholas Bequelin from Human Rights Watch suggested that his arrest, calculated to send the message that no-one would be immune, must have had the approval of someone in the top leadership.

[54][better source needed] Searches for "jasmine" were also blocked[55] on China's largest microblog, Sina Weibo, and status updates with the word on Chinese social networking site Renren were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content.

"[56] Since the word "Jasmine" was forbidden in the Chinese blogosphere, millions of netizens used the term "two conferences" instead, a widely used expression in the official news originally pointing to the two conferences "Fourth Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress" and "Fourth Session of the Eleventh CPPCC" happening in March in Beijing.

[5] Regulations issued by the Chinese government forbid entry by foreign reporters into the Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing or the People's Park in central Shanghai without a special permit.

Enforcement of the new rules on Sunday 28 February resulted in beating of one camera operator and detention of several reporters for several hours before their release and confiscation of their materials.

[65] High-level Chinese government official Zhao Qizheng said on 23 February that the probability of China having a "Jasmine Revolution" is "preposterous and unrealistic".

[66] Premier Wen Jiabao participated in a web chat on 27 February that France 24 described as an "apparent bid to defuse" the call for weekly gatherings.

"[67] It added that with the web chat, "state media blanketed the nation over the internet, television and radio on Sunday morning with two hours of remarks by Wen Jiabao".

"[69] Addressing the meeting of the National People's Congress, its chairman Wu Bangguo dismissed any notion of political reform, saying that Western-style democracy would have dire consequences and that any loosening of the Party's hold on power could undermine stability and risk domestic strife, and he also advocated the five "no's" – no multi-party election; no diversified guiding principles, no separation of powers, no federal system, and no privatization.

Analysts said the warnings were aimed at consolidating the party's power, in reaction to calls for liberal democracy in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

[70] On the other hand, the more liberal Wen Jiabao said that economic and political reform, safeguarding social equity and justice were major factors behind China's success.

[72] The Wall Street Journal said that the online protest appeal could cause concern among Chinese Communist Party leaders, as other uprisings against authoritarian governments elsewhere could impact China.

[75] On 8 March, the Democratic Progressive Party released a strongly worded statement condemning the use of force against participants of the "Jasmine Revolution" in China.

The statement urged the government to incorporate values of democracy and human rights into agreements with Beijing when promoting cross-strait ties to encourage "China's democratic transformation.