Crowd angered by lockdowns calls for China’s Xi to step down
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
SHANGHAI (AP) — Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China’s powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.
Police using pepper spray drove away demonstrators in Shanghai who called for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule, but hours later people rallied again in the same spot. Police again broke up the demonstration, and a reporter saw protesters under arrest being driven away in a bus.
The protests — which began Friday and have spread to cities including the capital, Beijing, and dozens of university campuses — are the most widespread show of opposition to the ruling party in decades.
In a video of the protest in Shanghai verified by The Associated Press, chants against Xi, the most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, and the Chinese Communist Party sounded loud and clear: “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!”
Three years after the virus emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of COVID-19. Its “zero COVID” strategy has suspended access to neighborhoods for weeks at a time. Some cities carry out daily virus tests on millions of residents.
That has kept China’s infection numbers lower than those the United States and other major countries, but public acceptance has worn thin. People who are quarantined at home in some areas say they lack food and medicine. The ruling party faced public anger following the deaths of two children whose parents said anti-virus controls hampered efforts to get medical help.
The current protests erupted after a fire broke out Thursday and killed at least 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi in the northwest, where some have been locked in their homes for four months. That prompted an outpouring of angry questions online about whether firefighters or people trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other restrictions.
About 300 demonstrators gathered late Saturday in Shanghai, most of whose 25 million people were confined to their homes for almost two months starting in late March.
On a street named for Urumqi, one group of protesters brought candles, flowers and signs honoring those who died in the blaze. Another group, according to a protester who insisted on anonymity, was more active, shouting slogans and singing the national anthem.
That protester and another, who gave only his family name, Zhao, confirmed the chants against Xi, who has awarded himself a third five-year term as leader of the ruling party and who some expect to try to stay in power for life. Like others who spoke to the AP, the protesters didn’t want to be identified due to fear of arrest or retaliation.
The atmosphere of the protest encouraged people to speak about topics considered taboo, including the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, the protester who insisted on anonymity said.
Some called for an official apology for the deaths in the fire in Urumqi in the Xinjiang region. One member of Xinjiang’s Uyghur ethnic group, which has been the target of a security crackdown that includes mass detentions, shared his experiences of discrimination and police violence.
“Everyone thinks that Chinese people are afraid to come out and protest, that they don’t have any courage,” said the protester, adding it was his first time demonstrating. “Actually in my heart, I also thought this way. But then when I went there, I found that the environment was such that everyone was very brave.”
The scene turned violent early Sunday. Hundreds of police broke up the more active group before they came for the second as they tried to move people off the main street. The protester said that he saw people being taken away, forced by police into vans, but could not identify them.
Zhao said one of his friends was beaten by police and two were pepper-sprayed. He lost his shoes and left barefoot.
He said protesters yelled slogans, including one that has become a rallying cry: “(We) do not want PCR (tests), but want freedom.”
On Sunday afternoon, crowds returned to the same spot and again railed against PCR tests. People stood and filmed as police shoved people.
Officers in surgical masks and yellow safety vests told the crowd of about 300 spectators to leave but appeared to be trying to avoid a confrontation. There was no sign of shields or other riot gear.
In Beijing, a group of about 200 people gathered in a park on the capital’s east side and held up blank sheets of paper, a symbol of defiance against the ruling party’s pervasive censorship.
“The lockdown policy is so strict,” said a protestor, who would give only his surname, Li. “You cannot compare it to any other country. We have to find a way out.”
Postings on social media said there were also demonstrations at 50 universities.
About 2,000 students at Xi’s alma mater, Tsinghua University in Beijing, gathered to demand an easing of anti-virus controls, according to social media posts. Students shouted “freedom of speech!” and sang the Internationale, the socialist anthem.
The protesters left after the university’s deputy Communist Party secretary promised to hold a school-wide discussion.
Videos on social media that said they were filmed in Nanjing in the east, Guangzhou in the south and at least six other cities showed protesters tussling with police in white protective suits or dismantling barricades used to seal off neighborhoods. The Associated Press could not verify that all those protests took place or where.
The human rights group Amnesty International appealed to Beijing to allow peaceful protest.
“The tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China,” the group’s regional director, Hanna Young, said in a statement. “These unprecedented protests show that people are at the end of their tolerance for excessive COVID-19 restrictions.”
Urumqi and a smaller city in Xinjiang, Korla, eased some anti-virus controls in what appeared to be an attempt to mollify the public following Friday’s protests.
Markets and other businesses will reopen in areas deemed at low risk of virus transmission and bus, train and airline service will resume, state media reported. They gave no indication whether residents in higher-risk areas would be allowed out of their homes.
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If only China would have followed security protocol in its lab....
Fun times:
The woman in the jeans and white coat is off to college. Fuckinwow.
The "we do not consider this a credible explanation" got a chuckle.
Hate to tell you China but you will just have to live with it, like the rest of us. It's off and running now..
Bit sad when you have to show "bravery" to go out and demonstrate...speaks volumes of the Chinese Government.
Don't have to give it a second thought here.
It's crazy the government is reacting like it is given the relative mildness of the current variant.
Totalitarian dictatorships like Xi and the CCP will never give up power willingly.
rian dictatorships like Xi and the CCP will never give up power willingly.
It's very unlikely to end without alot of bloodshed, whenever it falls.
Sadly, very true.
The Chinese police are much more adept at handling protesters than the American police.
Yup, no orders to stand down over there!
police are much more adept at handling protesters than the American police.
And that says a lot about the courage of the protesters. They aren't out their preening for reporters while pretending to wear imaginary handcuffs. They face actual repercussions for speaking their mind.
Indeed it does, if only they had football games to cop a knee before, they wouldn't have to risk themselves.
Not only are the police more adept, they remain humble about their abilities and don't want the press filming their good work.
I wonder if anyone knows that Chinese media has yet to mention the protests?
They are probably saying there are none.
I see another story on this topic was locked.
Yes, odd the front page lead story is locked.
The Communist Chinese Government's reach on social media in America and around the world is out of control. They control the narrative on several platforms via threats, bribery and sometimes for free with ignorant far left leaning ideologues. Right now because twitter is no longer censoring Chinese news, they have launched an aggressive attacks of bot registrations spamming prostitution and porn to saturate the news of what is happening there.
Now is the time for the Chinese people to drag this corrupt regime through the streets. The CCP will fall quickly if the population takes to the streets. Even without arms there are simply too many people for their forces to control, this is why they rely on brutal murder and violence and fear. They know at any time their slave population can end them.
Sean,
The reason it was locked is that your story was posted first, which means you get to keep yours. I am going to change the lead story so that people can be directed to yours.
Okay. Makes sense
I greatly admire the courage of the Chinese people who are peacefully protesting draconian CCP Zero-Covid lockdowns in Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities. Watching videos of them being brutally beaten by police for simply wanting to leave their homes to go shopping, to work, or for a walk in the park with their children has made me even more thankful to live in the USA.