People In China Are Holding Huge Unprecedented Protests After A Fire Killed 10 People In Quarantine
People across China are holding unprecedented mass anti-government protests after a fire killed 10 people who were in COVID lockdown.
People across China are holding unprecedented mass anti-government protests after a fire killed 10 people who were in COVID lockdown.
Protests have been ongoing since Friday Nov. 25 after a fire broke out at an apartment complex in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi – which has been locked down for three months – at around 7:50pm local time on Thursday.
The fire, which killed 10 people and injured at least nine, was not extinguished until three hours later, and protestors say the strict lockdown had slowed down the rescue process.
The area had been classified as a “low-risk management” area, meaning residents were allowed to leave their apartments if they practiced self-monitor and avoided gatherings.
However, screenshots showing what appeared to be conversations between government authorities and residents of the complex suggest that the area had been under a stricter lockdown, which made it harder for the residents to leave the building, the New York Times reported.
The news sparked public sadness and anger, and protests erupted across major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, with people calling for an end to China’s zero COVID-19 policy.
On Saturday, a vigil for the victims of the incident in Shanghai turned into a protest, with demonstrators demanding Xi Jinping to step down.
“No more lockdowns, we want freedom!” protestors in Beijing on Sunday chanted, using a phrase written on a banner by Bridge Man, a man who held a one-man protest against President Xi Jinping on a bridge in Beijing in October.
“We just want our basic human rights. We can’t leave our homes without getting a test. It was the accident in Xinjiang that pushed people too far,” a Shanghai protestor told Reuters.
Demonstrators are holding blank sheets of paper as a form of protest, signifying all the things everyone knows but cannot say.
Video footage on social media showed police arresting individuals at protests in different cities.
Protests against the government are incredibly rare in China, and this is one of the biggest acts of civil disobedience China has seen since Tiananmen Square.
Despite China’s zero COVID-19 policy, China has seen a rise in cases.
