Police officers detain people during a protest against the containment of Covid-19 at the site of a candlelight vigil for the victims of a fire in Urumqi, Shanghai, China in this footage taken from a video released on Sunday.
Angry crowds took to the streets in Shanghai early on Sunday, and videos on social media showed protests in other cities across China as public opposition to the government’s zero-Covid policy grows.
A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, has sparked an outpouring of anger as many social media users blamed lengthy Covid lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.
China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, with authorities using immediate lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing to quell new outbreaks as they emerge.
In a video widely shared on social media, some protesters can be heard chanting “Xi Jinping, go away! CCP, go away!” on Shanghai’s central Wulumuqi Road – named for Urumqi in Mandarin – in a rare display of public opposition to China’s top leadership.
A person who took part in the Shanghai protests, but asked not to be identified, told AFP they arrived at the rally at 2:00am (1800 GMT) to see a group of people laying flowers on the pavement for mourned the 10 people killed in the fire while another group chanted slogans.
Video taken by an eyewitness showed a large crowd shouting and holding pieces of white paper – a symbolic protest against censorship – as they faced several lines of police.
(Unrest in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, China over strict Covid lockdowns)
Bystanders said there were minor skirmishes, but overall the police were “civilized.”
“It’s touching to see so many like-minded and humane people come together,” they said.
“It is shocking to know that, in today’s circumstances, many brave people still stand out.”
Multiple witnesses said that several people were taken away by the police.
Authorities were quick to clamp down on online discussion of the protest, with related phrases deleted from the Twitter-like platform Weibo almost immediately after footage of the rallies emerged.
(Man in Chongqing, China, protests against Covid lockdown measures and high food supply prices, is arrested by police, then rescued by local people.)
The area was quiet during the day on Sunday, but a heavy security presence was evident.
An AFP reporter saw several people carrying flowers being approached by police before they left.
UNIVERSITY WATCHES
Other vigils were held overnight at universities across China, including one at the elite Peking University, a university attendee told AFP.
Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions, he said some anti-Covid slogans had been graffitied on a wall at the university, with some words echoing those written on a banner that was hung over a Beijing bridge just before the congress. of the Communist Party in October.
(Is sanity and the “right walk” returning to China, the country that many progressive globalist leaders admire and want to copy?)
People had started gathering around midnight local time, but he hadn’t dared to join.
“When I arrived (two hours later), I think there were at least 100 people there, maybe 200,” he said.
“At first they sang ‘Internationale’. Later, some students started shouting slogans, but the reaction was not loud. People weren’t really sure what to shout about. But I heard people shouting: ‘No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!’
He said the students were communicating with security guards and teachers, but it is unclear if they were punished for participating.
The graffiti had already been covered when he arrived.
Videos on social media also showed a mass vigil at the Nanjing Institute of Communications, with people holding lights and white sheets of paper.
Hashtags related to the protest were censored on Weibo, and video platforms Duoyin and Kuaishou were deleted from any videos.
Videos from Xi’an, Guangzhou and Wuhan also went viral on social media, showing similar small protests. AFP was unable to independently verify the footage.
REGISTRATION CASES
China reported 39,506 domestic Covid cases on Sunday, a record high but small compared to case loads in the West at the height of the pandemic.
The protests come against growing public frustration over China’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus and have recently followed sporadic rallies in other cities.
(Chinese march towards local government building, protest demanding an end to Covid lockdowns)
Several high-profile cases in which emergency services were allegedly slowed by Covid lockdowns, leading to deaths, have catalyzed public opposition.
After the deadly Urumqi fire, hundreds of people gathered outside the city’s government offices, chanting: “Remove the blockades!” show footage partially verified by AFP.
In another video, dozens of people are seen marching through a neighborhood in the east of the city, shouting the same slogan before confronting a line of hazmat-clad officials and angrily berating security personnel.
(Citizens chant, “It started in Wuhan and it ends in Wuhan,” as they tear down the barricade.)
Urumqi officials said on Saturday that the city had “essentially reduced social transmission to zero” and would “restore the normal order of life for residents in low-risk areas in an organized and orderly manner”.
