- Summary- Shanghai, Beijing police make presence visible on streets- No sign of new protests in Beijing, Shanghai on Monday- Backlash is a setback for efforts to stamp out virus- News of the protests roils global marketsSHANGHAI/BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Police on Monday stopped and searched people at the sites of weekend protests in Shanghai and Beijing, after crowds there and in other Chinese cities demonstrated against stringent COVID-19 measures disrupting lives three years into the pandemic.Police have been asking people for their phones to check if they had virtual private networks (VPNs) and the Telegram app, which has been used by weekend protesters, residents and social media users said.Asked about widespread anger over China's zero-COVID policy, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters: "What you mentioned does not reflect what actually happened.BACKLASHThe backlash against COVID curbs is a setback for China's efforts to eradicate the virus, which is infecting record numbers after swathes of the population have sacrificed income, mobility and mental health to prevent it from spreading.The zero-COVID policy has kept China's official death toll in the thousands, against more than a million in the United States, but has come at the cost of confining many millions to long spells at home, bringing extensive disruption and damage to the world's second-largest economy."