Clashes in Shanghai as Protests Over Zero-Covid Policy Grip China – Hundreds of demonstrators and police have clashed in Shanghai as protests over China’s strict Covid restrictions have erupted for a third day and spread to several cities, posing the greatest test for President Xi Jinping since he secured a historic third term in office. The wave of civil disobedience is unprecedented in mainland China in the past decade, as frustration mounts over Xi’s signature zero-Covid policy nearly three years into the pandemic.
On Sunday, cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Guangzhou participated in protests sparked by a deadly apartment fire in the country’s far west the previous week. On Monday, China reported a new daily record of 40,347 new cases of Covid-19 infection. The cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing are struggling to contain outbreaks with thousands of cases. Hundreds of infections were also recorded in several other cities across the country. As investors grew concerned about the impact of the protests on the world’s second-largest economy, Chinese stocks fell sharply.
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At least 1,000 protesters gathered along the 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River early on Monday morning in Beijing and refused to disperse. On Sunday in Shanghai, police maintained a heavy presence on the Urumqi-named Wulumuqi Road, where the day before a candlelight vigil turned into protests. “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,” said a 26-year-old protester in Shanghai who declined to be identified.
“The people here aren’t violent, but the police are arresting them for no reason. They tried to grab me but the people all around me grabbed my arms so hard and pulled me back so I could escape.” By Sunday evening, there were hundreds of people in the area. Some pushed against police officers who were attempting to disperse the crowd. People displayed blank sheets of paper as a form of protest. On Saturday, people in Shanghai had chanted “No PCR tests, we want freedom!” followed by rounds of repeated calls for “Freedom! Freedom!”
The protests erupted on Friday in Urumqi, the regional capital of the far west Xinjiang region, after footage of a fire in a residential building that killed at least 10 people the day before led to accusations that a Covid lockdown was a factor in the death toll. Saturday morning, Urumqi officials held an impromptu news conference to deny that Covid measures impeded escape and rescue. Many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents have been prohibited from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days during some of the country’s longest lockdowns.
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Under Xi, protest has been all but suppressed in China, forcing citizens to express their discontent primarily through social media, where they engage in a game of cat-and-mouse with censors. China has adhered to Xi’s zero-Covid policy even as most of the rest of the world has eased restrictions. China’s case numbers have reached record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections on Saturday alone, prompting additional lockdowns in the country’s cities. Beijing has defended the policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.
