Chinese authorities tightened controls in reaction to rare nationwide protests against the country’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid, dispatching phalanxes of police to prevent fresh gatherings as state media reiterated support for leader
Xi Jinping’s
stringent pandemic strategy.
The demonstrations exploded in several large cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, during the weekend. They followed a deadly fire on Friday in Urumqi, capital of the remote region of Xinjiang, which officials said killed 10 people. Some residents suggested that pandemic restrictions contributed to a delay in putting out the fire.
As the government aimed to quash any new protests on Monday, one area of focus was Sitong Bridge in northern Beijing, where a lone protester last month hung banners calling for freedom instead of lockdowns and demanding Mr. Xi be deposed. Dozens of uniformed and undercover police swarmed the area around the bridge on Monday evening after protesters chanted lines from the banners the previous night.
Officers questioned foreign journalists who arrived in the area after word of a potential protest on Monday evening began circulating on an encrypted messaging app. As of about 8 p.m. no protests were seen taking place in the area.
In Shanghai, police were checking the phones of people who showed up at People’s Square Station, a transportation hub, in search of foreign apps including Instagram, Twitter and Telegram, according to messages posted in a chat room used by protesters and viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Police also turned out in Hong Kong, where 20 or so mostly young people gathered in the central business district on Monday evening, holding blank sheets of paper—a symbol of censorship—and flowers in solidarity with protesters in the mainland and to mourn those who died in the fire…
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