The country is strapped for cash after years of following zero- COVID policy.

Thousands of elderly people have been taking to the streets since January to protest big cuts to monthly medical benefit payments. They’ve gathered in four major cities across the country, demanding local officials reverse the decisions, reports CNN.

The changes are part of a national overhaul mainly intended to cover deficits in public medical insurance funds, according to analysts, which have been drained after paying for mass testing, mandatory quarantine and other pandemic controls over the past three years.

The demonstrations, dubbed by Chinese media as a “gray hair movement,” are another rare rebuke for authorities after widespread protests gripped the country in November against Covid lockdowns, the American news channel reported.

“Chinese pensioners view these latest reforms as yet another broken party promise, one that could profoundly impact their quality of life in the face of China’s looming demographic crisis,” Craig Singleton, senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CNN.

Chinese officials fear that the protest might spread further.

Censors removed hashtags for “Wuhan health insurance” from Weibo’s hot topics section after the demonstrations began in January. They also censored photos and videos of the protests from social media, reports the American news channel.