They have some way of detecting long running ssh proxies. Your connection will degrade and then disconnect. No idea how they do it. For all I know, they break your key and figure out it's just a proxy.

They've recently launched a major upgrade that is also taking down most of the major VPNs popular with expats, and warning expats that unauthorized VPNs are illegal and encouraging the use of "local" providers.

It's a little ridiculous. Expats would be severely hampered without access to man of the sites that are blocked.