Hundreds of people took to the streets in Xinjiang province in the country’s northwest to protest the Chinese government’s strict measures against the coronavirus.
In Chinese online media on Saturday, several videos from the city of Ürümqi showed people breaking through locked metal fences and protesting. Some are yelling, “End of the lockdown!” There were also protests in the capital Beijing, as videos show.
In several neighborhoods of Beijing, residents have broken through the fences of their settlement. There, too, the local authorities were asked to lift the strict measures against the further spread of the pandemic. Such open protests are unusual in the Communist-ruled People’s Republic of more than 1.4 billion people.
Recordings from Xinjiang province showed and heard people chanting China’s national anthem, which reads “Get up! All those who don’t want to be slaves anymore.” Checks by Reuters news agency showed that the videos posted on social media were been posted in the provincial capital, Urumqi.
The protests were sparked by a fire in a skyscraper in Ürümqi. It erupted on Thursday evening, killing ten people. Rumors spread on social media that the building was partially closed and therefore many residents had not left in time. At a hastily convened press conference on Saturday, city officials said Corona measures did not hinder escape and rescue. One of them said residents could have exited the building faster if they had a better understanding of safety precautions.
Much of the Xinjiang region and the capital, Ürümqi, have been sealed off for more than 100 days. Ürümqi has more than 3.5 million inhabitants. There have been around 100 new corona cases in the city over the past two days.
In recent months, there have already been isolated unrest against China’s strict coronavirus policy. Restrictions on going out are an existential threat, especially for migrant workers who don’t have big savings. China is currently suffering from the highest corona numbers since the start of the pandemic. On Saturday, the Beijing Health Commission reported a record number of nearly 35,000 new cases. In cities with more than one million inhabitants, such as Beijing, the hard-hit city of Guangzhou in southern China, or Chongqing, extensive travel restrictions apply.
While the rest of the world has long been living with the virus, China is sticking to its strict zero-Covid strategy. Residential areas are cordoned off in individual cases. Contact persons come to the quarantine camps. Infected people are isolated in hospital. Even after nearly three years of the pandemic, China’s international borders are largely closed.
About ten million Uyghurs live in Xinjiang. Western human rights groups and governments accuse China of oppressing the Muslim minority.
