I can't say I'm surprised. Many governments have acted in an authoritarian manner to both suppress dissent and symbols of dissent.
My favorite 'wtf?' moment with regards to this is when the PM of Indonesia wanted to get rid of the Deputy PM and declared he was a homosexual - which was news to his wife - and jailed him under the Secrets act (without charging him). The Deputy PM btw is a compromise to another party since it was a coalition government. After the streets erupted in mass protest, they brought the Deputy PM back out and their explanation for why he was so bruised was because he was so ashamed of his homosexuality that he beat himself up.
(Guess how many people believed that?)
My favorite 'wtf?' moment with regards to this is when the PM of Indonesia wanted to get rid of the Deputy PM and declared he was a homosexual - which was news to his wife - and jailed him under the Secrets act (without charging him). The Deputy PM btw is a compromise to another party since it was a coalition government. After the streets erupted in mass protest, they brought the Deputy PM back out and their explanation for why he was so bruised was because he was so ashamed of his homosexuality that he beat himself up.
(Guess how many people believed that?)