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China’s zero-Covid protests: slogans chanted, blank paper placards held aloft as public patience over restrictions wears thin
- Demonstrations staged in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities follow the deaths of 10 people in a fire in Xinjiang last week
- Analysts say public patience with the country’s strict controls may be wearing thin
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Citizens in a handful of Chinese cities took to the streets in a rare show of defiance to protest against the country’s strict Covid-19 controls following the deaths of 10 people in a fire at an apartment block in Xinjiang last week.
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In Beijing several hundred people took to the streets in a protest that continued until after 3am on Monday. Other demonstrations took place in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu over the weekend, according to media reports and social media posts. Some protesters were reportedly detained.
Some questioned whether the months-long Covid lockdown in Xinjiang had been a factor in the deaths of 10 people in Urumqi, the capital of the far-western region, although the authorities insist they did not hamper rescue efforts at the residential block.
Some protesters chanted slogans calling for an end to the three-year-old zero-Covid strategy, as well as freedom of expression and rule of law.
In Shanghai some chanted slogans criticising the Communist Party while others held up blank sheets of paper – a symbol of anger against restrictions on speech.
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While the fire in Xinjiang was a trigger point for many, their frustrations over China’s Covid policies have been building well before it, according to protesters who talked to the Post.
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