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Police on Monday patrolled the scenes of weekend protests in Shanghai and Beijing after crowds there and in other cities across China demonstrated against stringent COVID-19 measures disrupting lives three years into the pandemic.
From the streets of several Chinese cities to dozens of university campuses, protesters made an unprecedented show of civil disobedience since leader Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago. During his tenure, Xi has overseen the quashing of dissent and the expansion of a high-tech social surveillance system that has made protests more difficult, and riskier.
“What we object to is these restrictions on people’s rights in the name of virus prevention and the restrictions on individual freedom and people’s livelihoods,” said Jason Sun, a college student in Shanghai. Protesters were even heard publicly calling on Xi to step down due to his mishandling of the COVID pandemic.
Protestors in China call for the resignation of President Xi Jinping. https://t.co/WHdwVuT3il pic.twitter.com/wyXhqDbB6X
— The Hill (@thehill) November 28, 2022
There was no sign of new protests on Monday in Beijing or Shanghai, but dozens of police were in the areas where the weekend demonstrations took place.
Asked about widespread anger over China‘s zero-COVID policy, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters, “What you mentioned does not reflect what actually happened.
“We believe that with the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and cooperation and support of the Chinese people, our fight against COVID-19 will be successful.”
The zero-COVID policy has kept China‘s official death toll in the thousands, against more than a million in the United States, but has come at the cost of confining many millions to long spells at home, bringing extensive disruption and damage to the world’s second-largest economy. Many also speculate that the number reported by China is not accurate.
Abandoning it would mean rolling back a policy championed by Xi. It would also risk overwhelming the health system and lead to widespread illness and deaths in a country with hundreds of millions of elderly and low levels of immunity to COVID, experts say.
The protests roiled global markets on Monday, sending oil prices lower and the dollar higher, with Chinese stocks and the yuan falling sharply.
State media did not mention the protests, instead urging citizens in editorials to stick to COVID rules. Many analysts say China is unlikely to re-open before March or April and needs an effective vaccination campaign before that.
“The demonstrations do not imminently threaten the existing political order, but they do mean the current COVID policy mix is no longer politically sustainable,” analysts at Gavekal Dragonomics wrote in a note.
“The question now is what re-opening will look like. The answer is: slow, incremental and messy.”
Blue barriers
Late on Sunday, protesters clashed with police in the commercial hub of Shanghai, where 25 million people were stuck at home in April and May, with security forces taking away a busload of people.
On Monday, the Shanghai streets where protesters gathered were blocked with blue metal barriers to prevent crowds from gathering. Police in high-visibility vests patrolled in pairs, while police cars and motorbikes cruised by.
Shops and cafes in the area were asked to close, a staff member at one told Reuters.
Earlier on Sunday, video showed protesters knocking down the barriers before police gained control of the area.
https://twitter.com/ColdWarPatriot/status/1596846066736865281
While China‘s COVID policy has remained a major source of uncertainty for investors, they are now also being watched for any sign of political instability, something many of them had not considered in authoritarian China, where Xi recently secured a third leadership term.
Martin Petch, vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, said the ratings agency expected the protests “to dissipate relatively quickly and without resulting in serious political violence”.
“However, they have the potential to be credit negative if they are sustained and produce a more forceful response by the authorities.”
Urumqi fire
The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi that killed 10 people. COVID curbs in the city, including residents being locked in their homes, appeared to hinder rescue and escape, though city officials have denied responsibility.
This is the horrific fire in Urumqi where residents burned alive under the CCP’s terror lockdowns pic.twitter.com/wnepkc5oWm
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 27, 2022
Crowds in Urumqi took to the street on Friday. Over the weekend, protesters in cities including Wuhan and Lanzhou overturned COVID testing facilities, while students gathered on campuses across China.
Demonstrations have also been held in at least a dozen cities around the world in solidarity.
In solidarity with people who died in Urumqi fire accident in China. Protest by Chinese students and voluntary groups in #London #China #Xi pic.twitter.com/QuZgcYp7Dt
— Prabhu M (@PrabhuM_journo) November 27, 2022
Discussion of the protests, as well as pictures and footage, sparked a game of cat-and-mouse between social media users and censors.
In Beijing, large crowds of peaceful people gathered past midnight on Sunday on a city ring road, some holding blank pieces of paper in a symbol of protest.
On Sunday in Shanghai, some protesters chanted anti-Xi slogans, almost unheard of in a country where Xi has a level of power unseen since Mao Zedong’s era.
Reporter assaulted
The BBC said Chinese police had assaulted one of its journalists covering a protest in the commercial hub of Shanghai and detained him for several hours, drawing criticism from Britain’s foreign minister who said the detention was deeply disturbing.
China disputed the account and said the journalist had not identified himself as a reporter.
“The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai,” the British public service broadcaster said in a statement late on Sunday.
“He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the BBC’s statement did not reflect what had happened, and that the journalist present his foreign press card when being detained.