Lockdown protests erupted on Sunday in Shanghai, several universities in Beijing and other cities in China, where anger is growing over the draconian “zero Covid” policy practiced by the country’s authorities for nearly three years.
A video widely circulated on the internet and which AFP has geolocated to Shanghai shows some protesters screaming “Xi Jinping, step down!” » and also to attack the Chinese Communist Party, a very rare manifestation of hostility towards the president and the regime in the country’s economic capital, subjected to a grueling two-month confinement at the beginning of the year.
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This protest took place at dawn on Wulumuqi Street – the Mandarin name of Urumqi city in Xinjiang (west) where ten people died in a fire on Thursday. Many posts circulating on social media in China accuse anti-Covid measures of having aggravated this tragedy by slowing down the arrival of help.
Strong police presence
A person who took part in the protests in Shanghai told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that he had arrived around 2 in the morning at the rally. “A group of mourners laid flowers on the sidewalk, another group chanted slogans”said this witness.
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“There were some small scuffles, but overall the police were civil”He continued. “It’s crazy to know that in these circumstances there are still so many brave people who stand out”he exclaimed.
Video taken by a witness showed a large crowd yelling as they waved sheets of white paper – a symbol of censorship – in front of several police lines. Several witnesses reported that at least two people were taken away by the security forces.
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During the day on Sunday, the neighborhood was quiet again, under a heavy police presence. An AFP reporter saw people carrying flowers being accosted by police and leaving.
University events
Several hundred students from Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University also demonstrated on their campus on Sunday, according to an eyewitness interviewed by AFP and images posted on social networks.
“At 11:30 (03:30 GMT), the students started holding up signs at the entrance to the cafeteria. Then more and more people joined them. Now there are between 200 and 300 people. We sang the national anthem and the Internationale and sang: “freedom will triumph””this student told AFP.
“We sang the national and international anthem, and chanted: “freedom will triumph”, “no PCR test, we want food”, “no childbirth, we want freedom””another witness said. On the internet, videos showed a crowd in front of the university cafeteria, gathered around a speaker shouting: “It’s not a normal life, we’ve had enough. Our lives weren’t like this before! »
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Another video apparently taken from the same location showed students screaming “Democracy and the rule of law, freedom of expression”but it was quickly taken down from the internet.
The witness told AFP that the Communist Party deputy secretary at the university was talking to students and that many had started to leave. He added that police were not yet present at the scene.
vigils
Vigils in memory of the Urumqi victims have been held at other universities across the country, including the equally prestigious Peking University, according to a student who attended.
According to this witness, slogans against politics “Zero Covid” were drawn on a wall at this university, protesters began gathering around midnight on Saturday night on campus, and crowds numbered between 100 and 200 people around two in the morning.
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“I heard shouts: ‘no to Covid tests, yes to freedom'”he said, showing AFP photos and videos that corroborate his claims.
Videos on social networks also showed a major vigil at the Nanjing Institute of Communications (East) where attendees also brandished blank sheets of paper. Other videos, the authenticity of which AFP was unable to confirm, showed more small protests in Xian (central), Guangzhou (south) and Wuhan (central).
Authorities were quick to limit online discussions of the protests and delete the videos.
Confinements and quarantines
Tiredness is growing in China against the draconian policy to combat the pandemic. Sporadic and sometimes violent protests have already taken place in several other cities in recent days, including at the world’s largest iPhone factory in central Zhengzhou, as well as in Urumqi following the fire.
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Despite the numerous vaccines available, and contrary to the rest of the world, the Asian country continues to impose massive confinements as soon as the slightest case appears, to quarantine people who have tested positive in centers and to request quasi-PCR tests. newspapers for access to public places.
A series of high-profile cases in which emergency services were allegedly slowed down by health restrictions, with fatal consequences, fueled the discontent.
China recorded 39,506 cases of Covid on Sunday, a daily record that remains very low compared to figures recorded in other parts of the world at the height of the pandemic.
