2022.11.27 08:01
Lockdowns in China-protests increase
Budrigannews.com – It all started with a video of a woman screaming in a burning building that was shared on social media. This image scared people all over China, who have been subjected to continuous lockdowns and quarantines that can result in their apartment blocks being sealed off or blocked by steel gates.
Within a matter of hours, protests had spread online, and footage of residents of Beijing and other cities confronting officials who were attempting to install the infamous “iron guard” gates to isolate their communities was captured on video. The protesters cited China’s Covid Zero policy’s new 20 points, which were introduced this month to try to make it less harmful to the economy and less restrictive for people.
Protesters took to the streets in a public outpouring of anger and frustration as more videos appeared online showing residents compel officials to back down. Some even called for President Xi Jinping to step down, a level of national discontent not seen since Xi took power a decade ago.
A fire on Thursday night in a high-rise apartment block in Urumqi, the capital of the far western Xinjiang region, which has been under lockdown for more than three months, was the cause of the discontent. The fire was said to have killed at least ten people, and citizens took to the internet to vent their frustration, asking whether prolonged lockdowns delayed or hampered rescue efforts.
At a press conference late on Friday, city officials apologized to the public and offered their condolences to the fire victims, but they refuted claims that Covid measures prevented residents from fleeing.
However, the following day, Beijing and other cities’ residents argued with local officials who were attempting to block off their buildings by quoting the Urumqi incident.
On the Wulumuqi Middle Road, a Shanghai street named after Urumqi, people gathered on Saturday. Videos that were shared on social media showed that hundreds of residents gathered at the intersection near midnight to remember the dead, lighting candles and holding white papers in silent protest against censorship.
After that, they demanded that the lockdown in Xinjiang be lifted and that Covid controls be relaxed.
Based on viewing the video footage of the Shanghai protest, Perry Link, a professor at the University of California, Riverside who helped edit the Tiananmen Papers, a collection of secret documents related to the 1989 military crackdown on protesters in Beijing, stated, “I think you can say that this is the most confrontational street event since Tiananmen. “Based on the videos I saw, it’s clear that dozens or even hundreds of people are behind these protests. Additionally, there is a nationwide connection between the cities.
China is in a tricky situation. Xi and other high-ranking officials are unwilling to endure the deaths that occur when even the most vaccinated nations open up, despite the fact that they have trumpeted a much lower pandemic death toll as evidence in support of their Covid Zero strategy. China’s vaccination rates are lower than those of those countries, particularly among the elderly, and the country’s exclusive use of domestic shots, which are less effective, is also a risk.
Additionally, the more nuanced application of Covid Zero that is outlined in the 20-point playbook is significantly more difficult to implement with transmissible variants. After China’s leaders stated that COVID policy required a more targeted approach, cities like Shijiazhuang near Beijing and Zhengzhou, home to the largest iPhone factory in the world, were compelled to call extensive lockdowns less than two weeks later. As new cases break records every day, Beijing, the power center of the Communist Party, is currently subject to a web of restrictions meant to prevent movement.
Even though the Chinese government hasn’t said anything about the growing unrest, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, ran a front-page story on Sunday urging people to stick to Covid Zero, which it said is in line with the nature and principles of the party.
To be continued
