Protesters against Covid restrictions hold blank sheets of paper during a demonstration in Beijing in the early hours of Monday, Nov.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
BEIJING — Rare protests broke out across China over the weekend as groups expressed frustration over the Covid-free policy.
The unrest comes as infections increase, prompting more local Covid control measures, while a central government policy changes earlier this month has raised hopes of gradual easing. Nearly three years of control dragged the economy down. Youth unemployment is close to 20%.
People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, published a front-page commentary on Monday about the need to implement more targeted and effective Covid control measures, while eliminating those that should. eliminate.
In Beijing, many apartment communities have successfully convinced local management that they have no legal basis for a blockade. That comes after more and more compounds in the capital on Friday suddenly ban residents from leaving.
On Sunday, the city government said temporary movement control measures should not last more than 24 hours.
Over the past three days, students have held protests at many universities, while people took to the streets in several areas of Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Lanzhou, among the cities. other, according to videos widely shared on social media. All videos cannot be independently verified.
The protests initially began in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on Friday after a building fire killed 10 people the day before – in an area that had been under lockdown for months. The social media story focuses on how Covid control measures have prevented people and rescuers from saving lives.
Although the exact cause of death was unknown, local authorities later announced the Covid risk had decreased and began to relax control measures.
In Shanghai on Saturday, a vigil for the deaths of Urumqi turned into a protest against Covid and the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Some unverified videos also show calls for President Xi Jinping to step down.
Videos on social media showed police arresting several protesters.
Many protesters held up blank sheets of paper. Some sang the national anthem and “The Internationale”, a socialist song associated with the founding of the Communist Party of China.
Notably, social media also showed protesters at the prestigious Tsinghua University on Sunday.
It is unclear whether the protests will reach significant scale in a country of 1.4 billion people or whether a broad demographic will participate.
