In China, protests against the measures imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus are spreading rapidly throughout its territory. So far this weekend, many residents of large cities such as Urumqi, Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou or Chengdu have taken to the streets to show their weariness and call for an end to the restrictions, shouting "We want freedom!" or “Open China!”. In Shanghai, the country's economic capital, there were even harsh protests against the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, a highly unusual display of discontent in a country where public displays of dissent come at a high price.
The trigger for these mobilizations was the fire in a block of flats that on Thursday night left ten dead in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region. Part of the population considers that the victims could have been saved had it not been for the anti-covid measures that kept the area semi-confined and that made it difficult for the firefighters to act. The event immediately sparked street protests from his neighbors and a wave of online criticism against the pandemic protocols that soon spread to many corners of the country.
Urumqi is also the name of the street where hundreds of Shanghai residents gathered on Saturday night for a vigil in memory of those killed in that fire. In the videos captured during the concentration, of a peaceful nature, those gathered with white papers in their hands can be seen singing "Those who refuse to be slaves, rise up" -a verse of the Chinese national anthem- or shouting slogans such as "We want freedom!" or "We don't want to do PCR tests!".
At one point in the night, a group of people even shouted "Down with the Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", an unusual display of discontent towards the formation that has governed the country for seven decades or its current leader, the most powerful since the days of Mao Zedong. Almost at dawn, the police ended up dividing up the demonstration and arresting some of the young people present.
This Sunday, numerous residents of Shanghai, many of them young people in their twenties, have gone to the same place where the previous concentration took place, where a large police presence awaited them. Several of them have tried to place flowers on the ground as a tribute without the agents having allowed them. According to some images shared live, there were also calls to demand the release of the detainees.
Already at night, hundreds of people gathered near a police cordon with sheets of white paper in their hands as a symbol of their protest. “I am here because of the fire in Urumqi. I'm here for freedom. Winter is coming. We need our freedom," one attendee told Reuters.
The protests have also reached Beijing, the capital of the country, this Sunday. As can be seen on social networks, a crowd of students gathered this noon (local time) at the prestigious Tsinghua University, one of the most important in the country and the 'alma mater' of Xi and other prominent historical figures. In the videos of the concentration, a group of students can be seen chanting slogans in favor of freedom of expression, democracy or the rule of law.
Other university centers have also been the scene of growing unrest. In the eastern city of Nanjing, students gathered on campus last night and lit their mobile phone flashlights as a vigil for those killed in Urumqi. Meanwhile, on a campus in Xi'an, in the center of the country, a group of students took to the streets to show their discontent over the anti-covid lockdowns.
Other cities where there have also been recent protests are Chongqing (west), Guangzhou (south), Lanzhou (north) or Wuhan (center), where the coronavirus first made an appearance three years ago. All these mobilizations are added to the violent labor cut protests, but also fueled by anti-covid restrictions, which took place this week at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, the world's largest iPhone assembler.
Since the pandemic broke out, the Chinese government has remained faithful to its zero-tolerance policy, which seeks to keep the virus at bay through mass testing, strict control of its borders, and harsh restrictions on movement. During this time, the vast majority of the population has accepted these measures as a necessary evil to avoid the high numbers of deaths registered in other countries such as India or the United States. But the patience of many seems to have run out in recent months, especially due to the damage that these controls cause to their economy while the rest of the world seems to have returned to normal thanks to vaccines.
In this regard, the state-run People's Daily published an editorial this Sunday emphasizing the need to persevere and continue adhering to the zero covid policy. However, the growing wave of frustration and protests adds pressure on the authorities on how to deal with the current increase in cases - the country has been breaking record numbers of positives for four days in a row - and what will be the future of its controversial anti-virus policy.
