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‘Down with Xi Jinping’: Protests erupt across China as COVID fury mounts
Protests spread in China as anger mounts over ‘zero-COVID’
Residents and students rally in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, with some even calling on Xi Jinping to step down.
The New Daily and AAP6:20am, Nov 28
Brazen protests have erupted across China — including in the country’s biggest city Shanghai — as simmering frustrations over the zero-COVID policy boil over into defiance.
While much of the world has moved on from strict lockdowns, China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed not to swerve from stamping out the virus — three years into the pandemic.
In a rare display of public anger, thousands of people have taken to the streets chanting “Xi Jinping, step down” and “Communist party, step down”.
Some held blank pieces of paper as a symbol of censorship and white flowers which signify warning.
Students were also demonstrating in the major citiies of Beijing and Nanjing over the weekend.
China observers said the protests were unprecedented under Mr Xi, who recently secured an unprecedented third term as leader of the Communist Party, and could lead to harsh reprisals.
People on the streets of Shanghai in a rare show of anger. Photo: Getty
The latest outbursts follow a protest in the remote north-west city of Urumqi where the deaths of 10 people in a tower block fire have been blamed on lockdown rules.
Many internet users surmised residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down — a claim city officials denied.
In Shanghai, China’s most populous city and financial hub, residents gathered at Wulumuqi Road — which borrows its name from Urumqi — for a vigil that turned into a protest.
“Lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!” crowds shouted, according to a video circulated on social media.
At one point a large group began shouting, “Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping, free Urumqi!”, according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the Chinese leadership.
A large group of police looked on and sometimes tried to break up the crowd.
Police officers block Wulumuqi street, named for Urumqi in Mandarin, in Shanghai. Photo: Getty
China is battling a surge in infections that has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions in cities across the country as Beijing adheres to a zero-COVID policy even as much of the world tries to coexist with the virus.
China defends the zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system.
Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world’s second-biggest economy.
Videos from Shanghai widely shared on Chinese social media showed crowds facing dozens of police and calling out chants including “serve the people”, “we don’t want health codes” and “we want freedom”.
Protesters were bundled into police vehicles. Photo: Getty
Some social media users posted screenshots of street signs for Wulumuqi Road, both to evade censors and show support for protesters in Shanghai.
Others shared comments or posts calling for all of “you brave young people” to be careful.
Many included advice on what to do if police came or started arresting people during a protest or vigil.
Shanghai’s 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, an ordeal that provoked anger and protest.
Chinese authorities have since sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, but that effort has been challenged by a surge in infections as China faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
While low by global standards, China’s case numbers have hit record highs for days, with almost 40,000 new infections reported by health authorities on Sunday for the previous day.
Some residents under lockdown in Beijing staged small protests or confronted local officials on Saturday over movement restrictions, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting the curbs ahead of schedule.
A video shared with Reuters showed Beijing residents in an unidentifiable part of the capital marching around an open-air car park on Saturday, shouting “end the lockdown”.
Why China's COVID protesters hold up blank paper
The rare protests in Chinese cities and universities over its ongoing COVID lockdowns are continuing to boil. The protesters are also turning to an unusual symbol of defiance to evade authorities: blank sheets of white paper.
Videos Show CCP Forces Violently Crackdown on China Protests Against Xi
BY ANDREW STANTON 11/27/22 NEWSWEEK
Protesters Clash With Security At Chinese iPhone Factory
Videos posted to social media show Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces violently crack down on protests against Chinese President Xi Jinping's COVID-19 lockdowns.
Massive protests erupted across China in recent days following an apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of the northwestern Xinjiang region, that resulted in the deaths of 10 people. Protesters are demanding Xi's resignation in a rare rebuke against his leadership, just weeks after he secured a historic third term.
The apartment fire triggered the protests after video posted to Chinese social media showing rescue efforts led some people to believe Xi's restrictive COVID-19 rules slowed the evacuation, resulting in unnecessary deaths.
Chinese authorities, however, maintained people inside the high-rise were able to go downstairs and escape the building, but their defense has done little to quell discontent among citizens, who still believe the zero-COVID policy prevented residents from fleeing the blaze.
BLANK PAPER PROTEST
Above, protesters march along a street in Beijing on November 28.
NOEL CELIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
China implemented the policy to prevent widespread infection within its borders. Nearly three years after the first COVID-19 case was discovered in Wuhan, the CCP says its restrictions prevented a global economic downturn and millions of virus-fueled deaths.
Chinese protesters, however, are illustrating the growing discontent with the rules despite recent clashes with CCP police. Videos emerged on social media on Sunday showing authorities crack down on protesters, with scenes at times turning violent.
"Peaceful Anti Chinese Communist Party Government protests in Shanghai for the second day in a row," tweeted @_Inty_, a Twitter account that frequently tweets about Chinese current affairs. "The CCP began to violently crackdown the Chinese protesters."
NPR journalist Rob Schmitz tweeted a video showing police clearing protesters from the streets of Shanghai.
"It'll be interesting to see how the Chinese government responds in the coming days to crowds of Chinese calling for Xi Jinping and the CCP to step down," he tweeted.
Shows of political defiance are rare in China. Although authorities say they allow free expression, human rights experts have long raised concerns that the CCP stifles dissent among its citizens.
Human Rights Watch researcher Yaqiu Wang tweeted Saturday that the protests are "painful to watch, knowing what is going to happen to those who chanted and knowing the level of control the CCP has over the Chinese society."
Wang's tweet was in response to a video that showed protesters chant, "Down with the party! Down with Xi Jinping!" Other videos posted to Twitter depicted the protesters shouting "End the lockdown."
Xi Under Pressure
Before the protests began, Xi was already facing some political strife after thousands of employees resigned from Foxconn's flagship factory in central China where iPhones are produced.
Workers clashed with riot police, who were wearing hazmat suits, over living conditions inside a strict COVID-19 bubble. Videos showed hundreds of workers storm out of their dormitory building where they were met with a police response.
The protests are the most direct challenge yet to the zero-COVID policy. China has maintained that it has had few infections—and fewer deaths—in the past two years. However, the protests also come as cases are rising throughout the country. From October 26 to November 26, cases increased more than 490 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Xi also continues facing a strained relationship with other global super powers. He has become perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin's most powerful global ally amid the otherwise-condemned invasion of Ukraine, and tensions with Taiwan have strained in recent months as island leaders rebuke Chinese leadership.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese government for comment.
Protests Across China As Anger Mounts Over Zero-Covid PolicyAngry crowds take to the streets in Shanghai as public opposition to China's zero-Covid policy grows
Angry crowds took to the streets in Shanghai early on Sunday, and videos on social media showed protests in other cities across China, as public opposition to the government's hardline zero-Covid policy mounts.
A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, has spurred an outpouring of anger as many social media users blamed lengthy Covid lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.
China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid strategy, with authorities wielding snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing to snuff out new outbreaks as they emerge.
In a video widely shared on social media and geolocated by AFP, some protesters can be heard chanting "Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!" in central Shanghai's Wulumuqi street -- named for Urumqi in Mandarin -- in a rare display of public opposition to China's top leadership.
A person who attended the Shanghai protests but asked not to be identified told AFP they arrived at the rally at 2:00 am (1800 GMT) to see one group of people putting flowers on the sidewalk to mourn the 10 people killed in the fire, while another group chanted slogans.
Video taken by an eyewitness showed a large crowd shouting and holding up blank white pieces of paper -- a symbolic protest against censorship -- as they faced several lines of police.
The attendee said there were minor clashes but that overall the police were "civilised".
"It's touching to see so many like-minded and humane people uniting together," they said.
"It's shocking to know that, under today's circumstances, there are still many brave people standing out."
Multiple witnesses said a couple of people were taken away by the police.
Authorities were swift to curb online discussion of the protest, with related phrases scrubbed from the Twitter-like Weibo platform almost immediately after footage of the rallies emerged.
The area was quiet by daytime Sunday but a heavy security presence was visible.
An AFP journalist saw some people holding flowers being approached by police before leaving.
Other vigils took place overnight at universities across China, including one at the elite Peking University, an undergraduate participant told AFP.
Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions, he said some anti-Covid slogans had been graffitied on a wall in the university, with some words echoing those written on a banner that was hung over a Beijing bridge just before the Communist Party Congress in October.
People had started gathering from around midnight local time, but he hadn't dared join initially.
"When I arrived (two hours later), I think there were at least 100 people there, maybe 200," he said.
"At first, they sang the 'Internationale'. Later, some students started shouting slogans, but the reaction wasn't particularly loud. People weren't really sure what they should shout. But I heard people yelling: 'No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!'"
Photos and videos he showed AFP corroborated his account.
The students were communicating with security guards and teachers, he said, but it is unclear if they faced punishment for taking part.
The graffiti had already been covered up when he arrived.
Videos on social media also showed a mass vigil at Nanjing Institute of Communications, with people holding lights and white sheets of paper.
Hashtags relating to the protest were censored on Weibo, and video platforms Duoyin and Kuaishou were scrubbed of any videos.
Videos from Xi'an, Guangzhou and Wuhan also spread on social media, showing similar small protests. AFP was unable to verify the footage independently.
China reported 39,506 domestic Covid cases Sunday, a record high but small compared to caseloads in the West at the height of the pandemic.
The protests come against a backdrop of mounting public frustration over China's zero-tolerance approach to the virus and follow sporadic rallies in other cities recently.
A number of high-profile cases in which emergency services have been allegedly slowed down by Covid lockdowns, leading to deaths, have catalysed public opposition.
Following the deadly Urumqi fire, hundreds of people massed outside the city's government offices, chanting: "Lift lockdowns!", footage partially verified by AFP shows.
In another clip, dozens of people are seen marching through a neighbourhood in the east of the city, shouting the same slogan before facing off with a line of hazmat-clad officials and angrily rebuking security personnel.
AFP was able to verify the videos by geolocating local landmarks but was unable to specify exactly when the protests occurred.
Urumqi officials said on Saturday the city "had basically reduced social transmissions to zero" and would "restore the normal order of life for residents in low-risk areas in a staged and orderly manner".
Protests in Shanghai and Beijing as anger over China's COVID curbs mounts
Story by By Casey Hall, Josh Horwitz and Martin Quin Pollard • 5h ago
Protest against COVID-19 curbs at Tsinghua University in Beijing© Thomson Reuters
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Crowds of demonstrators in Shanghai shouted and held up blank sheets of papers early on Sunday evening, as protests flared in China against heavy COVID-19 curbs following a deadly fire in the country's far west sparked widespread anger.
The wave of civil disobedience, which has included protests in cities including Beijing and Urumqi, where the fire occurred, is unprecedented in mainland China since Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.
In Shanghai, China's most populous city, residents had gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road - which is named after Urumqi - for a candlelight vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.
As a large group of police looked on, the crowd held up blank sheets of paper as a protest symbol against censorship. Later on, they shouted, "lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!", according to a video circulated on social media.
Protest in Shanghai© Thomson Reuters
Later, a large group chanted "Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the country's leadership.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
Later on Sunday, police kept a heavy presence on Wulumuqi Road and cordoned off surrounding streets, making an arrest that triggered protests from onlookers, according to unverified videos seen by Reuters.
By evening, hundreds of people had gathered again near one of the cordons, some holding blank sheets of paper.
"I am here because of the fire accident in Urumqi. I am here for freedom. Winter is coming. We need our freedom," one protestor told Reuters.
At Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, dozens of people held a peaceful protest against COVID restrictions during which they sang the national anthem, according to images and videos posted on social media.
Police officers stand next to cordon in Shanghai© Thomson Reuters
In one video, which Reuters was unable to verify, a Tsinghua university student called on a cheering crowd to speak out. "If we don’t dare to speak out because we are scared of being smeared, our people will be disappointed in us. As a Tsinghua university student, I will regret it for all my life."
One student who saw the Tsinghua protest described to Reuters feeling taken aback by the protest at one China's most elite universities, and Xi's alma mater.
"People there were very passionate, the sight of it was impressive," the student said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.
Related video: China Protests Lockdowns | 'Down With Xi' Protests Across China | China Covid 2022 News | News18
Duration 2:37
Thursday's fire that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, saw crowds there take to the street on Friday evening, chanting "End the lockdown!" and pumping their fists in the air, according to unverified videos on social media.
Many internet users believe that residents were not able to escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied. In Urumqi, a city of 4 million, some people have been locked down for as long as 100 days.
ZERO-COVID
China has stuck with Xi's signature zero-COVID policy even as much of the world has lifted most restrictions. While low by global standards, China's cases have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections on Saturday.
China defends the policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting economic toll.
China's economy suffered a broad slowdown in October as factory output grew more slowly than expected and retail sales fell for the first time in five months, underscoring faltering demand at home and abroad.
Adding to a raft of weak data in recent days, China reported on Sunday that industrial firms saw overall profits fall further in the January-October period, with 22 of China's 41 major industrial sectors showing a decline.
The world's second-largest economy is also facing other headwinds including a global recession risks and a property downturn.
Widespread public protest is extremely rare in China, where room for dissent has been all but eliminated under Xi, forcing citizens mostly to vent on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.
Frustration is boiling just over a month after Xi secured a third term at the helm of China's Communist Party.
"This will put serious pressure on the party to respond. There is a good chance that one response will be repression, and they will arrest and prosecute some protesters," said Dan Mattingly, assistant professor of political science at Yale University.
Protest in Shanghai© Thomson Reuters
Still, he said, the unrest is far from that seen in 1989, when protests culminated in the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square. He added that as long as Xi had China's elite and the military on his side, he would not face any meaningful risk to his hold on power.
An epidemic prevention worker in a protective suit sleeps in a chair outside a locked-down residential compound as outbreaks of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue in Beijing© Thomson Reuters
This weekend, Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui called for the region to step up security maintenance and curb the "illegal violent rejection of COVID-prevention measures".
Xinjiang officials have also said public transport services will gradually resume from Monday in Urumqi.
'WE DON'T WANT HEALTH CODES'
Other cities that have seen public dissent include Lanzhou in the northwest where residents on Saturday upturned COVID staff tents and smashed testing booths, posts on social media showed. Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.
Candlelight vigils for the Urumqi victims took place at universities in cities such as Nanjing and Beijing.
Shanghai's 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, provoking anger and protests.
Chinese authorities have since then sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, an effort that has been challenged by the surge in infections as the country faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
(Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard, Yew Lun Tian, Eduardo Baptista and Liz Lee in Beijing and by Brenda Goh, Josh Horwitz, David Stanway, Casey Hall and Engen Tham in Shanghai and the Shanghai Newsroom; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by William Mallard, Kim Coghill, Edwina Gibbs and Raissa Kasolowsky)
COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai© Thomson Reuters
Shanghai hit by protests as anger at zero-COVID and Urumqi fire spreads across China(Reuters: Gao Ming)
Protests against China's heavy COVID-19 curbs have spread to more cities, including financial hub Shanghai, with a fresh wave of anger sparked by a deadly fire in the country's far west.
Key points:
Protests erupted in multiple cities in China in response to strict COVID curbs
Candlelight vigils for the Urumqi victims took place in various Chinese universities
Officials have vowed to continue with COVID-zero policy despite the growing public pushback
The fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang region, sparked widespread public anger, with many internet users suggesting residents could not escape because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied.
The fire has fuelled a wave of civil disobedience unprecedented in mainland China since Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.
In Shanghai, China's most populous city, residents gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road — named after Urumqi — for a candlelit vigil which turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.
As a large group of police looked on, the crowd held up blank sheets of paper, a protest symbol against censorship.
Later on, they shouted, "lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!", according to social media footage.
At another point, a large group began shouting, "Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the Chinese leadership.
Later on Sunday, police kept a heavy presence on Wulumuqi Road and cordoned off surrounding streets, making an arrest that triggered protests from onlookers, according to unverified videos seen by Reuters.
Urumqi tragedy sparks nationwide anger
Candlelit vigils for the Urumqi victims took place in universities in cities such as Nanjing and Beijing, with students staging silent protests by holding up blank sheets of paper.
At Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, dozens of people held a peaceful protest against COVID restrictions during which they sang the national anthem, according to images and videos posted on social media.
In one video, which Reuters was unable to verify, a Tsinghua university student called on a cheering crowd to speak out.
"If we don't dare to speak out because we are scared of being smeared, our people will be disappointed in us," he said.
"As a Tsinghua university student, I will regret it for all my life."
One student who saw the Tsinghua protest described to Reuters feeling taken aback by the protest at one China's most elite universities, and Mr Xi's alma mater.
"People there were very passionate, the sight of it was impressive," the student said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.
Internet users showed solidarity by posting blank white squares on their WeChat timelines or on Weibo.
By Sunday morning, the hashtag "white paper exercise" had been blocked on Weibo.
Videos from Shanghai showed crowds facing dozens of police and calling out chants including: "Serve the people", "We don't want health codes" and "We want freedom".
People chant slogans as they gather at the place where a candlelight vigil was held for the victims of the Urumqi fire in Shanghai. (Reuters:)
Read more
Many of Urumqi's 4 million residents have been under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.
In Beijing, 2,700 km away, some residents under lockdown staged small protests or confronted local officials on Saturday over movement restrictions, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting the curbs ahead of a schedule.
A video shared with Reuters showed Beijing residents in an unidentifiable part of the capital marching around an open-air car park on Saturday, shouting "End the lockdown!"
Other cities that have seen public dissent include Lanzhou in the north-west where residents on Saturday upturned COVID staff tents and smashed testing booths, posts on social media showed.
Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.
In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, hundreds of residents took to the streets on Sunday, smashing through metal barricades, overturning COVID testing tents and demanding an end to lockdowns, according to videos on social media that could not be independently verified.
Shanghai's 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, an ordeal that provoked anger and protest.
Chinese authorities have since then sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, but that effort has been challenged by a surge in infections as China faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Lockdowns triggered by COVID surge
China is battling a surge in infections that has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions in cities across the country, as the government adheres to a zero-COVID policy even while much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus.
While low by global standards, China's case numbers have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections reported by health authorities on Sunday for the previous day.
China defends Mr Xi's signature zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent the healthcare system being overwhelmed.
Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy.
WATCH
Duration: 7 minutes 35 seconds
China stands firm on COVID restrictions despite frustrating citizens
Protests and defiance are rare
Widespread public protest is extremely rare in China, where room for dissent has been all but eliminated under Mr Xi, forcing people mostly to vent on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.
Frustration is boiling just over a month after Mr Xi secured a third term at the helm of China's Communist Party.
"This will put serious pressure on the party to respond," said Dan Mattingly, assistant professor of political science at Yale University.
"There is a good chance that one response will be repression, and they will arrest and prosecute some protesters."
Still, he said, the unrest is far from that seen in 1989, when protests culminated in the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
He added that as long as Mr Xi had China's elite and the military on his side, he would not face any meaningful risk to his hold on power.
Reuters
Protests in Shanghai as anger mounts over China’s zero-Covid policy
Some protesters could be heard chanting “Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!” in a rare display of public opposition to the country’s top leadership.
by Michael Zhang and Matthew Walsh
Angry crowds took to the streets of Shanghai early Sunday calling for an end to lockdowns, as China grapples with mounting public protests against its zero-Covid policy.
A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, spurred an outpouring of anger as many social media users blamed lengthy Covid lockdowns in the city for hampering rescue efforts.
Shanghai. Photo: Vivian Wu screenshot via Twitter.
In Shanghai’s central Wulumuqi street, named for Urumqi in Mandarin, in a video widely shared on social media and geolocated by AFP, some protesters can be heard chanting “Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!” in a rare display of public opposition to the country’s top leadership.
Video taken by an eyewitness on Sunday showed people gathering in central Shanghai to mourn the 10 victims killed in the Urumqi fire.
Other vigils took place at universities across the country, according to posts widely circulating on social media.
A person who attended the Shanghai protests but asked not to be named told AFP they arrived at the rally at 2:00 am to see that “a group of people was mourning and sending flowers on the sidewalk, another group of people was chanting slogans”.
“There were minor clashes but in all, civilised law enforcement,” they added.
“At last a couple of people were taken away by the police for unknown reasons.”
Authorities were swift to curb online discussion of the protest, with phrases related to the visit scrubbed from the Twitter-like Weibo platform almost immediately after footage of the rallies emerged.
The protests come against a backdrop of mounting public frustration over the Chinese government’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid and follow sporadic rallies in other cities.
Lockdowns and mass testing
China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid strategy, with authorities wielding snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and mass testing to snuff out new outbreaks as they emerge.
Shanghai, a city of more than 25 million people, endured a gruelling two-month lockdown earlier this year that saw widespread food shortages.
A number of high-profile cases in which emergency services have been allegedly slowed down by Covid lockdowns, leading to deaths, have catalysed public opposition to the measures.
“I’m also the one throwing myself off the roof, trapped in an overturned (quarantine) bus, breaking out of isolation at the Foxconn factory,” read one recent viral comment referencing several recent incidents blamed on zero-Covid strictures.
Following the deadly Urumqi fire, hundreds of people massed outside the city’s government offices, chanting: “Lift lockdowns!”, footage partially verified by AFP shows.
Photo: Douyin screenshot.
In another clip, dozens of people are seen marching through a neighbourhood in the east of the city, shouting the same slogan before facing off with a line of hazmat-clad officials and angrily rebuking security personnel.
AFP was able to verify the videos by geolocating local landmarks, but were unable to specify when exactly the protests occurred.
In the wake of the protests, officials on Saturday said the city “had basically reduced social transmissions to zero” and would “restore the normal order of life for residents in low-risk areas in a staged and orderly manner”.
University vigils
Other vigils took place overnight at universities across China, including one at the elite Peking University, an undergraduate participant told AFP.
Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions, he said some anti-Covid slogans had been graffitied on a wall in the university, with some words echoing those written on a banner that was hung over a Beijing bridge just before the Communist Party Congress in October.
People had started gathering from around midnight local time, but he hadn’t dared join initially.
“When I arrived (two hours later), I think there were at least 100 people there, maybe 200,” he said.
“At first, they sang the ‘Internationale’. Later, some students started shouting slogans, but the reaction wasn’t particularly loud. People weren’t really sure what they should shout. But I heard people yelling: ‘No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!'”
Photos and videos he showed AFP corroborated his account.
The students were communicating with security guards and teachers, he said, but it is unclear if they faced punishment for taking part.
The graffiti had already been covered up when he arrived.
Videos on social media also showed a mass vigil at Nanjing Institute of Communications, with people holding lights and white sheets of paper.
Hashtags relating to the protest were censored on Weibo, and video platforms Duoyin and Kuaishou were scrubbed of any videos.
Videos from Xi’an, Guangzhou and Wuhan also spread on social media, showing similar small protests. AFP was unable to verify the footage independently.
China reported 39,506 domestic Covid cases Sunday — a record high but comparatively small compared to caseloads in the West at the height of the pandemic.
