Protest Growing in China as Government Tightens Covid Restrictions
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 27: Protest slogans with “Down with Xi” reverberated in the air as hundreds of people took to the streets in Shanghai and Beijing on Sunday to protest against strict restrictions as part of China’s zero-Covid policy in a rare outpouring of public anger against the state.
China’s hardline virus strategy is stoking public frustration, with many growing weary of snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing campaigns.
A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, has become a fresh catalyst for public anger, with many blaming lengthy Covid lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims.
The Qatar World Cup has also proved a flashpoint, as scenes of maskless fans provoked outrage on social media. As protest grew, China’s state broadcaster cut short close-up shots of maskless fans at the Qatar World Cup, after early coverage sparked anger at home. China is the last major economy still attempting to stamp out the domestic spread of Covid-19 with snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing campaigns. During a live broadcast of Sunday’s group game between Japan and Costa Rica, state broadcaster CCTV Sports replaced close-up shots of maskless fans waving flags with images of players.
On Sunday night, police clashed with groups of protestors in central Shanghai as officers tried to move people away from the site of an earlier demonstration. A crowd had gathered on Wulumuqi street — named after the Mandarin for Urumqi — earlier in the day, with video showing protesters chanting “Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!” The video was widely shared on social media.
Police dispersed the demonstrators by morning but in the afternoon, hundreds gathered in the same area to hold what appeared to be a silent protest. Demonstrators holding blank pieces of paper symbolising censorship and white flowers stood silently at several intersections. Social media videos from the area that appeared to be taken in the late afternoon showed the crowd chanting.
By evening, dozens of policemen in yellow high-vis jackets formed a thick line, cordoning off the streets where the protests had taken place. Their colleagues asked people to leave the area, but some still milled around and multiple people were arrested. More officers subsequently arrived.
A live stream on Instagram showed a wall of policemen closing in on a group of people from both sides of the street, forcing them to the pavements. Earlier in the day, hundreds also rallied at Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University to protest against lockdowns.
“At 11:30 am students started holding up signs at the entrance of the canteen, then more and more people joined,” they said, estimating there were 200-300 people present, some holding blank bits of paper. Participants sang the national anthem and “the Internationale” — a standard of the international communist movement — and chanted “freedom will prevail” and “no to lockdowns, we want freedom”, they said. A video that appeared to be taken in the same location showed students shouting, “Democracy and the rule of law, freedom of expression”, and was quickly taken down.
Some of the words echoed a banner that was hung over a Beijing bridge just before the Communist Party Congress in October. Some people were heard 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. Videos from Xi’an, Guangzhou and Wuhan showing similar small protests also spread on social media.
China reported 39,506 domestic Covid-19 cases on Sunday, a record high but small compared to caseloads in the West at the height of the pandemic.
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. Hundreds of people massed outside Urumqi’s government offices after the deadly fire, chanting: “Lift lockdowns.”
