Beijing ( CNN ) -- Chinese authorities Monday arrested dozens of demonstrators in Hohhot as protests spread to the provincial capital and other cities in Inner Mongolia despite tightened security and reports of martial law , activists told CNN . `` Several hundred people , mostly students and ordinary Hohhot residents , gathered at Xinhua Square around 11 a.m. Monday , chanting slogans and holding signs demanding legal rights for the Mongolia people , '' said Enghebatu Togochog , director of the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center . `` Paramilitary troops dispersed the crowd after an hour and dozens were arrested . '' Sources in the city told him the protest turnout was much smaller than planned , Togochog said , as officials sealed local campuses and shut down social media . He added that , in addition to Hohhot , the government has also deployed paramilitary troops into Tongliao , Chifeng and other cities , putting more areas in Inner Mongolia under de facto martial law . Local officials continue to dispute activists ' accounts , even as state-run media reported some conciliatory gestures by the government . `` There was no protest in downtown Hohhot , '' Wen Fei , an official with Inner Mongolia 's foreign affairs office , told CNN . `` Everything is normal and there is no martial law . '' `` All students are free to move around , '' echoed Ji Shugang , a spokesman for the government of Xilin Gol prefecture . `` Journalists are welcome here , but you need to apply for permission first . '' Xilin Gol is the site of one of the largest protests last week , as an estimated 2,000 Mongolian students took to the streets to show solidarity with a Mongolian herder , who was struck and killed by a Chinese coal truck driver . In an unusual move , Inner Mongolia 's Communist Party chief visited the Xilin Gol area Friday to meet with students and teachers , the Inner Mongolia Daily reported . Hu Chunhua said authorities had detained the suspects in the herder 's death and promised swift punishment to those found responsible , according to the newspaper . The government has also sacked a top local official and pledged to better manage the mining industry to reduce its impact on herders ' livelihood . The Beijing-based Global Times , a mass-circulating tabloid , ran an editorial Tuesday , calling some demands of `` largely peaceful protesters '' in Inner Mongolia `` reasonable '' while accusing Western media of exaggerating ethnic clashes in the region . Activists acknowledge officials ' effort to calm tensions , but doubted their sincerity in resolving the dispute long term . They say the government 's push in recent years to expand coal mining in areas traditionally used for grazing has threatened the very existence of Mongolian herders and their culture . `` Officials just temporarily shut down a coal mine where the herder was killed , '' Togochog said . `` Hu Chunhua still stated development must go on , so they wo n't halt coal mining and production in the area forever . '' The grassroots and peaceful nature of the Mongolian demonstrations has made it difficult for authorities to justify a harsh crackdown , he added , noting Beijing 's more heavy-handed responses in the past to protests by Tibetans and Uighur Muslims . `` By carrying out this non-violent movement , Mongolians are gaining confidence in people power , in its ability to demand changes , '' he said . The Chinese government has hailed Inner Mongolia as a `` model autonomous region '' with rapid economic growth -- spurred by the mining industry -- and ethnic harmony . With the recent unrest gaining international attention , Beijing is playing down the ethnic dimension . `` Local authorities are trying to balance environmental protection and economic development , '' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu commented Tuesday on the herder 's death . `` Overseas parties who try to use this incident to stir up trouble have ulterior motives . '' Mongolians have lived in the area for centuries , but the Han Chinese -- who arrived in large numbers after the founding of the People 's Republic in 1949 -- now make up almost 80 percent of Inner Mongolia 's population .
The protests move to other cities in Inner Mongolia . `` Troops dispersed the crowd after an hour and dozens were arrested , '' an activist says . China has been cracking down on dissent since a series of student demonstrations swept Beijing last year.