A day after China used force to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution", a media report here today claimed that Beijing's response to the call for protests inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations in the Middle East highlighted the country's "nervousness".

"The outsize government response highlighted China's nervousness at a time of spreading unrest in the Middle East aimed at overthrowing authoritarian governments," the New York Times reported.

The newspaper reported the words "Jasmine Revolution," borrowed from the successful Tunisian revolt, were blocked on sites similar to Twitter and on internet search engines.

Cell-phone users were unable to send out text messages to multiple recipients and a heavy police presence was reported in several Chinese cities, the NYT said.

Yesterday, several hundred gathered in front of a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing's Wangfujing Street apparently after a message circulated by a US based website calling on people to launch Egyptian style protests against the one party rule in China.

People started to gather at around 2 pm on the busy shopping street in downtown Beijing, and together with onlookers and foreign journalists, the gathering people were numbered in hundreds at their peak, according to the witness.

Yesterday's protests were the first visual action by dissident groups which appeared to have been galvanised after the jailed prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo was awarded Nobel Peace Prize, which was strongly resented by China.

The messages calling people to action urged protesters to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness," an ostensible effort to tap into popular discontent over inflation and soaring real estate prices, according to the report.

Several reports said that a young man was encircled by police after he placed a jasmine flower near the front of the McDonalds. But he was released after reporters gathered in the area. The calls for campaign first appeared on Boxun.com, a US based Chinese language website.

The Middle East has been sent into upheaval in the wake of revolutions across the region and North Africa, toppling presidents in Tunisia and Egypt and sparking unrest in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere.