Chinese cities under heavy policing after protests

Shanghai, China (AFP):

China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai have been flooded with security in the wake of nationwide rallies calling for political freedoms and an end to Covid lockdowns.

The government faced protests not seen in decades as anger over unrelenting lockdowns has brought out deep-rooted frustration with its political system.

A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of the restive Muslim majority ethnic Uyghur region of Xinjiang, was the catalyst for the wave of outrage, with protesters taking to the streets in cities around China.

The demonstrators said Covid-19 restrictions were to blame for hampering rescue efforts, claims the government has denied. The government has accused “forces with ulterior motives” to have stoked the unrest.

Anger over lockdowns has widened to calls for political change, with protesters holding up blank sheets of paper to symbolise the censorship to which the world’s most populous nation is subjected.

Journalists in Beijing and Shanghai noted a heavy police presence of hundreds of vehicles and officers on the streets.

People who had attended weekend protest rallies said they had received phone calls from law enforcement officers demanding information about their movements.

In Shanghai, near a site where the protests saw bold calls for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, staff at a local bar said they had been ordered to close at 10:00 pm for “disease control”.

Small clusters of officers were deployed to metro exits near the protest site.

Frustration with zero-Covid remained palpable despite the overwhelming police deployment.

“The (zero-Covid) policies now -– they’re just too strict. They kill more people than Covid,” said one 17-year-old passerby, who asked to be identified only as Ray.

He said he had been surrounded by police when passing through the area.

A man can be heard in an audio recording asking for his address. In response, Ray insists law enforcement officers do not “have the right” to demand it.

Some rallies however did manage to go ahead elsewhere on Monday night.

In semi-autonomous Hong Kong, where mass democracy protests erupted in 2019, dozens gathered at the Chinese University to mourn the victims of the Urumqi fire.

“Don’t look away. Don’t forget,” protesters shouted.

In Hangzhou, there was strict security and sporadic protests in the city’s downtown, with one attendee reporting that 10 people had been detained.

“The atmosphere was disorderly. There were few people and we were separated. There were lots of police, it was chaos,” she said.

‘Many died in vain’ 

Such widespread rallies are exceptionally rare, with authorities harshly clamping down on all opposition to the central government.

But China’s strict control of information and continued travel curbs have made verifying protester numbers across the vast country challenging.

US President Joe Biden is monitoring the unrest, the White House said Monday.

Solidarity protests also mushroomed around the world.

“Officials are borrowing the pretext of Covid, but using excessively strict lockdowns to control China’s population,” one 21-year-old Chinese participant in a Washington protest, who gave only his surname, Chen, told AFP.

“They disregarded human lives and caused many to die in vain,” he said.

China’s leaders are committed to zero-Covid, which compels local governments to impose snap lockdowns and quarantine orders, and limit freedom of movement in response to minor outbreaks.

China’s National Health Commission has announced a renewed effort to expand low vaccination rates among the elderly.

Just 65.8 percent of people over 80 are fully vaccinated, according to the NHC.