People gather for a vigil and hold white sheets of paper in protest of Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing, Nov. 27.
Photo:
THOMAS PETER/REUTERS
China’s Communist Party runs the world’s most extensive surveillance and police state, so any public protest against its policies takes courage and runs great personal risk. That’s all the more reason to recognize the widespread demonstrations that broke out this weekend against the Chinese government’s draconian zero-Covid restrictions.
They reveal the public’s deep frustration after three years of the world’s most restrictive Covid policies that have shut down entire cities for weeks and months on government orders without public debate or recourse.
The trigger for the protests seems to have been an apartment fire in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province. Fire trucks reportedly had difficulty getting access to put out the fire, which killed 10. Xinjiang has been under its most recent Covid lockdown since August, and it is the Western province where Beijing has imposed mass confinement and re-education of the Uyghur Muslim minority.
The protests spread quickly throughout China as young people in particular went to the streets. Some held blank sheets of paper, which has become a symbolic protest against the restrictions on speaking against the Covid coercion and other abuses.
Local protests aren’t uncommon in China, typically against some environmental, commercial or local government abuse. The protesters typically appeal to Beijing to right the wrong. But these protests are notable for criticizing a national policy and Communist government excesses. Video from Shanghai even showed Chinese shouting “Xi Jinping, step down!”—referring to the head of the Communist Party who was recently anointed for a third term as Chinese President. Even saying those words aloud could land them in prison.
Covid poses a particular threat in China because the regime has advertised zero-Covid as an example of the superiority…
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