Beijing beefs up security in financial district

A police officer gestures at the photographer as security patrol outside the headquarters of China's banking regulator in Beijing, China August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

BEIJING (Reuters) - China ramped up the police presence in the financial district of its capital on Monday, with officers checking bystanders' identity cards and telling pedestrians to disperse, while at least 50 police gathered outside the banking regulator's office.

"There were loads of security people on the street this morning," said one man leaving an office building two blocks from the headquarters of the regulator, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.