KFC briefly made focal point of anti-US protests

Police and media organizations are calling for rational patriotism after sporadic protests against the United States broke out across China in the past few days triggered by the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague's illegal ruling on the South China Sea issue.

Video clips posted online have shown protesters who believe the US was behind the ruling demonstrating outside restaurants owned by the US fast-food chain KFC in cities in Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hunan provinces starting on Monday.

Many demonstrators held red banners saying "Join the boycott against US, Japanese and Philippine companies, and be a patriotic Chinese" and stopped people from entering the restaurants. Police officers were dispatched to the protests to maintain public order.