UK

What is diphtheria and how many people are vaccinated against it after disease linked to Manston migrant death

Diphtheria is a serious illness and sometimes fatal, especially in children, if it’s not treated quickly

There are concerns the diphtheria could spread to the wider UK population as asylum seekers were moved from the Manston processing facility to hotels around the country (Photo: PA)

By Brendan McFadden

Freelance reporter and late editor

November 27, 2022 

The Home Office has confirmed the death of a man held at the Manston processing centre may be linked to a diphtheria outbreak among asylum seekers in the UK.

The Government admitted on Saturday that a PCR test on the man who died after being held at the centre for a week indicates that “diphtheria may be the cause of the illness”.

UK Health Security Agency officials are expected to confirm on Monday the number of infections has risen to about 50, The Sunday Times reports – though ministers have denied that the virus is spreading as a result of squalid conditions at the controversial processing centre.

Asylum seekers cannot be legally held at Manston for more than 24 hours – but new arrivals have been left waiting there for days on end amid a scramble to find suitable accommodation.

There are also concerns the disease could spread to the wider UK population as asylum seekers were moved from the Kent facility to hotels around the country.

But what is diphtheria, is there a risk of an increase in cases across the nation, and how many people are vaccinated against it? Here’s what you need to know about the disease.

What is diphtheria?

Diphtheria is a contagious airborne infection, which can lead to difficulty breathing, heart rhythm problems, and even death.

It mainly affects the nose and throat, and sometimes the skin – and is spread by coughs and sneezes, or through close contact with someone who is infected.

The disease can also be spread by sharing items, such as cups, cutlery, clothing or bedding, with an infected person.

The disease, caused by strains of bacteria called corynebacterium, thrives in areas of poor sanitation.

Diphtheria is a serious illness and sometimes fatal, especially in children, if it’s not treated quickly.

What are the symptoms of diphtheria?

Symptoms typically start two to five days after a person contracts the infection.

They include:

• A thick, grey-white coating on the back of your throat, nose and tongue
• A high temperature
• A sore throat
• Swollen glands in your neck
• Difficulty breathing and swallowing
• Cutaneous diphtheria is an infection of the skin and symptoms include pus-filled blisters and large ulcers.

Who is vaccinated against it?

Vaccination against diphtheria is offered in the UK through a routine childhood vaccination schedule.

A six-in-one childhood jab is given to babies in the UK. It is also given to youngsters aged 3 years 4 months as part of a 4-in-one pre-school jab. And youngsters aged 14 years receive it as part of a 3-in-1 teenage booster.

The vaccines protect the majority of people for approximately 10 years.

Booster jabs are offered on the NHS and the health service recommends having one if people are travelling to an area where diphtheria is considered to be high risk.

In the period 2020/2021, uptake of the UK’s childhood vaccination schedule was more than 90 per cent for all UK countries, according to independent health think tank Nuffield Trust.

But uptake is lower in other parts of the world – meaning migrants in the UK could be more vulnerable.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), during 2021, about 81 per cent of infants worldwide (105 million infants) received 3 doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine.

Is there a risk of the disease spreading?

The NHS maintains that there is little risk of diphtheria spreading among the general population. Cases are rare in the UK and the disease can be treated easily with antibiotics and other medicines.

Diphtheria is a very rare infection in England due to the success of the routine immunisation programme that was introduced in 1942, when the average annual number of cases was about 60,000 with 4,000 deaths.

Dr Trish Mannes, of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “The risk of diphtheria to the wider public remains very low, due to high uptake of the diphtheria vaccine and because the infection is typically passed on through close prolonged contact.”

Transport Secretary Mark Harper claimed people at the Manston migrant processing centre had diphtheria before they arrived in the UK and insisted there is “extremely low risk to the wider community”.

He told Sky News: “On the diphtheria issue, there’s extremely low risk to the wider community, that’s a disease… the vaccination is in the standard childhood vaccination.

“We take the welfare of people in our care very seriously. My understanding is those cases were people who had that disease before they came to the United Kingdom.”

UK

Pay rises matching inflation are unaffordable, minister warns as strikes loom

WHITE COLLAR, BLUE COLLAR, PINK COLLAR

WE ARE ALL PROLETARIANS NOW

Sunday 27 November 2022

Rail workers on strike

Public sector pay rises in line with soaring inflation are “unaffordable”, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said, raising the chances of a winter of strikes going ahead.

The Cabinet minister said on Sunday there “simply isn’t the money” to meet the demands of workers preparing to take industrial action, but hinted at progress in talks over rail strikes.

Mr Harper indicated a change in the mandate for negotiations and said pay rises could come if rail workers accept reforms, after holding “positive” talks with Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch.

The Transport Secretary said 'we simply can’t afford some of the huge pay rises'

Nurses are set to stage their first-ever UK-wide strike action next month, as they join transport and postal workers on the picket lines in disputes over pay and conditions.

Mr Harper told ITV News the country is facing a huge economic challenge "made in Russia" and insisted public sector workers have been offered pay rises that the government thinks are affordable.

"We simply can’t afford some of the huge pay rises that we’ve seen that’s been demanded," he said.

When are the upcoming rail strikes and which routes will be affected?

When are all the strikes set to be held across the country?

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said inflation-busting pay deals are unaffordable

Credit: PA

He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that rail bosses “will have the ability to reach a deal”, when pressed about whether they have the mandate to properly negotiate with the RMT.

“But we have to be able to have that reform package negotiated, because it’s only that that throws up the savings,” Mr Harper said.

“I do not have a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to throw at this problem.”

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We have been clear we want to do a deal with the RMT which delivers the long overdue reforms the railway needs to improve services and unlocks the funds for an affordable pay rise.

“With time running out to avert the widespread Christmas disruption which would result from further industrial action, we need the RMT to call off the strikes and work with us to reach a fair deal for our people, our passengers and for the taxpayer.”

Those hoping the strikes will be called off by Christmas, including TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, welcomed a “change in tone” from the Government.

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry said he has “real hope” for a settlement as he criticised Mr Harper’s predecessor as transport secretary, Grant Shapps, for making a “big mistake” by taking a “not me guv” approach to talks.

Public sector workers like many in the private sector are calling for significant raises so they do not face real-terms cuts, as inflation soars past 11%.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has agreed to increase state pensions and benefits payments in line with inflation, but has said nurses’ demand for a 19% hike is “unaffordable”.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will walk out on December 15 and 20 if the dispute is not resolved.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has urged the nursing union to “come back to the table” for talks, but he is declining to discuss pay, instead wanting to talk about conditions such as pension arrangements, holidays, rosters and the availability of free coffee.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen however said it is “negotiations or nothing”. Writing to Mr Barclay over the weekend, she said: “If the negotiation table is empty, we can see you are not serious about progress.”

UK Nurses tell Health Secretary it’s ‘pay negotiations or nothing’ to avert strikes

26 November 2022

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Picture: PA

Steve Barclay urged the RCN to ‘come back to the table’ for talks about working conditions.

The Royal College of Nursing has told the Health Secretary it is negotiations on pay “or nothing” after he urged the union to return for talks about working conditions to avert strikes.

Steve Barclay on Saturday continued his refusal to discuss pay as nurses prepare to strike on December 15 and 20 unless they get a 19% rise.

He wrote to the RCN urging its representatives to “come back to the table” for talks, with a Whitehall source suggesting these could include subjects such as pension arrangements, holidays, rosters and the availability of free coffee.

You cannot shut them out and then repeat that your door is open. If the negotiation table is empty, we can see you are not serious about progress

Pat Cullen

But the RCN’s general secretary Pat Cullen swiftly responded with a letter saying she would only be returning for pay talks after members voted heavily in favour of industrial action.

“I’m afraid the position of my members is ‘negotiations or nothing’,” she wrote.

“You cannot shut them out and then repeat that your door is open. If the negotiation table is empty, we can see you are not serious about progress.

“This dispute needs resolving and strike action is now little over a fortnight away.

“On behalf of every nurse, let’s negotiate.”

Pat Cullen (Aaron Chown/PA)

Since the result of the ballot was made public two weeks ago, the RCN said it has sought detailed and formal negotiations with the Government and has attended two meetings with the Health Secretary that it maintained did not focus on this year’s NHS pay dispute.

On the matter of strike exemptions and patient safety, the union will meet senior NHS officials in the coming days.

Mr Barclay wrote to Mrs Cullen to “express my deep regret that you have declined my offer of a meeting”.

“I want to reiterate what I have said previously: my door is open to discuss how to improve the working lives of nurses and other staff,” he added.

“I urge you to reconsider your position and come back to the table.

“I would once again like to make clear that I, my colleagues across Government, and indeed the public, value the care provided by nurses up and down this country and I am disappointed that you have taken this unprecedented step.”

The Health Secretary and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have said the nursing union’s demand for a 19.2% pay rise costing an estimated £10 billion a year is unaffordable.

But an RCN spokesperson said: “This is gross scaremongering and many multiples of the accurate costs.”

The college says experienced nurses are worse off by 20% in real terms due to successive below-inflation awards since 2010, despite a pay rise of about £1,400 awarded in the summer.

By Press Association

UK nurses prepare for unprecedented strike over pay


ByKaren Graham
Published November 25, 2022

Nurses in UK protesting pay gap in 2020. Source - Garry Knight from London, England, CC SA 2.0.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced strikes on 15 and 20 December in its pay dispute with the government.

The national strikes – the first in the RNC’s 106-year history – are expected to last for 12 hours on both days. The Guardian is reporting that the strikes will be the first in a series of strikes over the winter and into the spring by NHS staff, including junior doctors and ambulance workers.

The RCN said it had been given no choice after ministers would not reopen talks, but the government said the 19 percent pay raise demanded was unaffordable.

Yet, nursing staff is either using food banks to help feed their children or actually leaving nursing to work in supermarkets where the work is less stressful and the pay is better, according to Reuters.

Chukwudubem Ifeajuna, a nurse in the south of England, said, “I have a few staff who are using food banks at the moment. I’ve had to cut down on a lot of things with the kids and I can’t afford to provide for them because of the high cost of living. So it’s really really tough, for everyone, not just myself.”

“We are striking because we deserve to be paid better. We haven’t had decent pay for over a decade now.”

Patricia Marquis, director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union in England, said the government must listen. “This is not something that nurses do at the drop of a hat,” she told Reuters.   

As an example, 15,000 pounds converted to US dollars based on the latest exchange rate
equals: $18,106.89

Even though the strikes will last 12 hours each time, under trade union laws, the RCN has to ensure that life-preserving care is provided during the strikes.

This means that some urgent cancer services, urgent tests and scans, and ongoing care for vulnerable patients will be protected alongside A&E and intensive care – although it will be up to local health bosses and union leaders to negotiate exact staffing levels on strike days.

However, the strikes that are expected to go on through the spring will certainly increase the backlog in non-urgent hospital treatment, according to The BBC. A record seven million people are already on the waiting list in England.

Louise Ansari, from the Healthwatch England patient watchdog, said she was “concerned” about the impact on this group of patients.

And added to the strikes being planned by nurses, The Guardian notes that postal workers, university staff, and Scottish schoolteachers went on strike on Thursday, while rail unions reaffirmed plans for eight days of national strikes despite a “positive” meeting with ministers.

UPDATED

‘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 AAP

6:20am, 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 Policy

By Michael Zhang and Matthew Walsh
11/27/22 AT 2:00 AM

Angry 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

View on Watch

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:)

Strict lockdowns rules called to question

On Friday night, crowds took to the streets of Urumqi, chanting "End the lockdown!" and pumping their fists in the air after the deadly fire, according to videos circulated on Chinese social media.

Protests erupt in Xinjiang, Beijing after deadly fire

Crowds took to the streets in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, chanting "End the lockdown!" after a deadly fire on Thursday triggered anger over their prolonged COVID-19 lockdown.

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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.