Stunning scenes of dissent and defiance played out across China last week, marking the country’s biggest protests in decades – and an unprecedented challenge to leader Xi Jinping.
Deep public anger after nearly three years of emergency lockdowns, border closures and economic hardship has brought thousands of people to the streets to demand an end to mainland China’s zero-Covid policy – with some also calling for democracy.
The country’s security forces moved quickly to quell the protests, while health officials tried to placate the public by promising to ease tough Covid measures. But furious posts on Chinese social media, which continued despite the best efforts of censors, suggest it was not enough.
Then came Friday and Xi’s first known remarks about the protests — an unexpected acknowledgment of citizens’ frustration, according to a European Union official who declined to be named.
“Xi also said that Omicron is less lethal than Delta, which makes the Chinese government feel more open to further easing Covid restrictions,” the EU official added, raising hopes for greater freedoms after an extraordinary week.
On Nov. 24, Ali Abbas’ granddaughter was charging her tablet device when an electrical fault caused smoke to fill their home in Urumqi, in China’s western Xinjiang region, she told CNN by phone from Turkey.
The smoke quickly turned into flames, which raced through the wooden compartment. Abbas’ granddaughter and daughter managed to get away – but residents on higher floors found themselves trapped after the lift stopped working.
Some households with previous cases of Covid were also locked inside their apartments, with no way to escape. Urumqi has been under strict lockdown since August, with most residents barred from leaving their homes.
The fire broke out in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on November 24, according to Chinese authorities. Credit: Douyin
Videos of the incident, taken from other buildings and on the street, suggest firefighters may have been delayed in reaching the victims due to street-level lockdown restrictions. Footage shows a fire engine struggling to spray water on the building from a distance.
State media said the fire killed 10 people and injured nine, but reports from local residents put the actual toll much higher. A day after the fire, Urumqi local government officials denied that the city’s Covid policies were to blame for the deaths, adding that an investigation was underway.
What happened to my neighbors is really a big disaster. I would like to express my sincere sorrow to all Uighurs, to all those loved ones who lost their family members.
Ali Abbas, apartment owner
Public outrage quickly swelled. Online videos showed people marching towards a government building in Urumqi on the evening of November 25, demanding an end to the lockdown, shouting with fists in the air. Residents in other parts of the city broke the barriers of lockdown and confronted Covid workers dressed in PPE. at one point, the crowd sang the national anthem, roaring the chorus: “Get up, get up, get up!”
The scenes were extraordinary in a city that is subject to some of China’s tightest surveillance and security. The government has long been accused of committing human rights abuses against ethnic Uyghurs and other minorities in the region, including placing up to 2 million people in internment camps. Beijing has repeatedly denied these accusations, arguing that the camps are vocational training centers.
The next morning, the Urumqi government said it would gradually ease the lockdown in some areas. But by then, it was too late to quell the protests that broke out across the nation.
The protests led to a well of anger that had built up over China’s zero-Covid policy — and the damage it often caused — as the rest of the world ended lockdown restrictions and eased other orders, including face coverings.
The cost was enormous. Unemployment has skyrocketed. The economy is collapsing. Those caught in unexpected lockdowns have found themselves without adequate food, basic supplies or even medical care in non-Covid emergencies.
And, like those in the Urumqi fire, many deaths have been blamed on the zero-Covid policy over the past six months – far more than the six official Covid deaths reported in the same period. Demands for accountability are growing, especially after a bus crash in September that killed 27 people while transporting residents to Covid quarantine facilities and the death of a toddler in November during a suspected gas leak in a cordoned-off residential area.
The policy was widely popular at the start of the pandemic, but many residents have now had enough. In a rare demonstration in October, a single protester hung banners on a Beijing bridge decrying Covid restrictions and demanding Xi’s removal.
Although all references to the banners were scrubbed from the Chinese internet, versions of these slogans began appearing in other parts of the country and at universities around the world – scrawled on bathroom walls and pinned to bulletin boards. More acts of civil disobedience occurred in November. Workers fled China’s largest iPhone assembly plant in Zhengzhou when it went into lockdown, while residents of Guangzhou, also a manufacturing hub, tore down lockdown barriers and took to the streets in an overnight riot.
From June to November 22, the US think tank Freedom House recorded at least 79 protests against the Covid restrictions, ranging from social media campaigns to street rallies. But most of them voiced grievances against local authorities – a far cry from some of the nationwide protests that have, for the first time in a generation, targeted the country’s powerful leader and central government.
Protesters gather in Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai on November 26. Credit: Twitter/@whyyoutouzhele
Protests in Urumqi quickly sparked more across the country – from the original epicenter of the pandemic in Wuhan, the capital Beijing, and Shanghai, China’s glittering financial hub, which is still reeling from its own lockdown two months earlier this year.
Hundreds of Shanghai residents gathered on November 26 for a candlelight vigil for the victims of the fire. Sadness turned to anger as the crowd chanted slogans calling for freedom and political reform, while holding up blank sheets of paper in a symbolic protest against censorship. In videos, people can be heard shouting for Xi and the Communist Party to “step down” and singing a famous socialist anthem.
About 300 kilometers (186 miles) away, dozens of students in Nanjing gathered to mourn the victims, with photos showing a crowd of young people lit by cellphone flashlights. Images of the protests raced across social media faster than censors could delete them – sparking protests on other campuses, including the prestigious Peking University in Beijing. A wall at Peking University bore a message in red paint, echoing the slogans used by the protester who hung the Beijing Bridge banners in October: “Say no to lockdown, yes to freedom.”
Protesters and students demonstrate outside Nanjing University, November 26. Credit: Twitter/@whyyoutouzhele
Some of these protests broke up peacefully, while several escalated into clashes with the police. In Shanghai, a protester told CNN that about 80 to 110 people were arrested by police on the night of Nov. 26, adding that they were released 24 hours later after police collected their fingerprints and retina scans.
CNN cannot independently verify the number of protesters being held, and it is unclear how many people, if any, remain in custody.
Beijing emerged as a hotbed of protest on November 27, as hundreds of students gathered at the elite Tsinghua University, chanting: “Democracy and the rule of law! FREEDOM OF SPEECH!” Elsewhere in the city, crowds gathered for a vigil and march through the mall, chanting slogans for greater civil liberties.
Amid the mourning and frustration, a strong sense of solidarity emerged as people shared the rare opportunity to stand side by side and air their grievances at length.
It turns out that there are so many people who are awake
Demonstrator in Chengdu
Online, China’s vast army of censors worked overtime to delete content about the protests – prompting many to get creative. Some social media posts consisted of just one or two characters repeated for several paragraphs, in keeping with China’s long tradition of using wordless codes and icons to convey dissent on the Internet.
Similar tactics were used on the ground, with videos on social media showing crowds chanting, “We want lockdowns, we want tests” after allegedly being told not to chant to the contrary.
Protesters in Shanghai hold up pieces of white paper to symbolize censorship, November 27. Credit: Twitter/@whyyoutouzhele
Pockets of resistance continued throughout the week. Protesters in Guangzhou clashed with riot police on Wednesday, with videos showing people tearing down Covid testing tents. The next day, residents in Beijing, Pingdingshan and Jinan broke down metal locking barriers blocking building exits.
Police and security forces line the streets of Shanghai on November 26. Credit: Twitter/@whyyoutouzhele
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