Hundreds of police officers locked down Beijing’s financial district on Monday to prevent protests over the crisis in peer-to-peer lending platforms, highlighting the government’s fears over crowd anger directed at financial regulators.

Teams of police and security guards were gathered at every corner of the intersections near the offices of banking and securities regulators, as well as at the entrance to the underground train stop for the financial district. They checked the identity cards of everyone entering the square kilometre that is home to Beijing’s domestic and international banks.

Groups of investors who had lost money in the recent collapse of P2P platforms had organised to demonstrate in Beijing on Monday morning, according to protesters and social media accounts. But only a handful showed up during the morning rush hour, and were immediately taken away or put on to buses by police.