Rare protests in China against government COVID curbs spread to Beijing, elsewhere

Protesters pushed to the brink by China’s strict COVID measures in Shanghai are calling for the removal of the country’s all-powerful leader and clashing with police in several cities in an astounding challenge to the government.

Police forcibly cleared the demonstrators in China’s financial capital who called for Xi Jinping’s resignation and the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s rule — but hours later people rallied again in the same spot.

成都 补充视频
街头聚集大量民众 要求取消核酸，过程中警察突然进来抓人引发骚乱，在视频中民众一直在提醒大家相互帮助 pic.twitter.com/mmoY8C9HkW

— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) November 27, 2022

Social media reports indicate protests have also spread to at least seven other cities, including the capital of Beijing, and dozens of university campuses.

NOW – People tear down barricades in #Wuhan. Anti-lockdown protests are spreading to more and more cities in China.@disclosetv pic.twitter.com/Wq6tUZr85M

— chimeg. (@HowertnB) November 27, 2022

Largescale protests are exceedingly rare in China, where public expressions of dissent are routinely stifled — but a direct rebuke of Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, is extraordinary.

Three years after the virus first emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of COVID-19 — a “zero COVID” policy that regularly sees millions of people confined to their homes for weeks at a time and requires near-constant testing. The measures were originally widely accepted for minimizing deaths while other countries suffered devastating wavs of infections, but that consensus has begun to fray in recent weeks.

On Friday, 10 people died in a fire in an apartment building, and many believe their rescue was delayed because of excessive lockdown measures. That sparked a weekend of protests, as the Chinese public’s ability to tolerate the harsh measures has apparently reached breaking point.

‘We want freedom!’ pic.twitter.com/yoTeYaFJAx

— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 26, 2022