Protests across China as anger mounts over zero-Covid policy

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 hardline zero-Covid policy mounts.

A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, has spurred an outpouring of anger as many social media users blamed lengthy Covid lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts by China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid strategy, with authorities wielding snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing to snuff out new outbreaks as they emerge.

In a video widely shared on social media and geolocated by AFP, some protesters can be heard chanting “Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!” in central Shanghai’s Wulumuqi street in a rare display of public opposition to China’s top leadership.

A person who attended the Shanghai protests but asked not to be identified told AFP they arrived at the rally at 2:00 am to see one group of people putting flowers on the sidewalk to mourn the 10 people killed in the fire, while another group chanted slogans.

Video taken by an eyewitness showed a large crowd shouting and holding up blank white pieces of paper — a symbolic protest against censorship — as they faced several lines of police.

The attendee said there were minor clashes but that overall the police were “civilized”.

Multiple witnesses said a couple of people were taken away by the police, AFP reported.

The area was quiet by daytime Sunday but a heavy security presence was visible.

Other vigils took place overnight at universities across China, including one at the elite Peking University, an undergraduate participant told AFP.

Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions, he said some anti-Covid slogans had been graffitied on a wall in the university. People had started gathering from around midnight local time, but he hadn’t dared join initially. “When I arrived (two hours later), I think there were at least 100 people there, maybe 200,” he said.

He said he heard people yelling: “No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!”

Videos on social media also showed a mass vigil at Nanjing Institute of Communications, with people holding lights and white sheets of paper.

The protests come against a backdrop of mounting public frustration over China’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus and follow sporadic rallies in other cities recently. A number of high-profile cases in which emergency services have been allegedly slowed down by Covid lockdowns, leading to deaths, have catalyzed public opposition.