3 held in China for protests against US over SCS verdict

Three persons have been arrested in China for staging protests outside the US fast-food chain KFC over America's backing for an international tribunal's verdict rejecting Beijing's claims over strategic South China Sea.
The public security bureau of Puyang in central China's Henan Province detained three protesters on Wednesday for illegally gathering outside two branches of KFC, state-run Global Times reported today.
Police said Li, 33, Yuan, 36, and Liu, 41, organised protests outside KFC restaurants in the Lianhua mall and on Huanghe Road in Puyang on Tuesday and disturbed public order.
The protesters, carrying banners reading "Support domestic products, love our country, boycott goods made in Japan, the US and South Korea," blocked the restaurant's doors and disturbed its normal business, police statement said.

Li received 15 days in detention, while Yuan and Liu will be detained for 13 days each, according to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, the Global Times reported.
Chinese police have been taking action to contain scattered protests calling for a boycott of US products, especially fast-food restaurants like KFC and McDonalds.

In a widely circulated video, a woman in Tangshan walked into the restaurant and told customers that it is they who pay for the bullets for the US.
Dozens of people gathered outside a KFC in Qinhuangdao in Hebei Province on Tuesday waving banners that said "Boycott the US, Japan and South Korea; Boycott KFC and McDonalds! Wake up fellow citizens," according to photos and videos uploaded on social media.

The protesters also attacked a police officer who was trying to take away their banners, according to a report.
The mob shouted "Patriotism is not illegal" at him.
Chinese police and state-run media have called for "rational patriotism" after sporadic protests against the US.
In a statement on Tuesday, Puyang public security bureau said it was illegal for residents to organise protests without getting permission from the local public security bureau.
The bureau also warned that patriotism is not a valid reason for breaking the law.