Nationwide Protests set China to loosen COVID restrictions
Protesters in Beijing after a vigil for victims of an apartment fire in Urumqi, China. Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters
A fire in a high rise building in Urumqi, China sparked rare nationwide protests against the state’s harsh coronavirus restriction policies.
The fire, which left ten killed and nine injured, was said to have taken more than three hours to extinguish. According to neighbors and witnesses, the building’s entrances and doors had been blocked and locked due to China’s coronavirus controls.
The case went viral on social media, and many internet users surmised that the escape process was hindered due to the building being partially locked down. Although Urumqi officials quickly let out a statement denying coronavirus measures interfering with the escape and rescue process, many questioned the official narrative.
China has been under a “zero-COVID” policy, which includes rolling lockdowns and rigid travel restrictions, to combat the spread of coronavirus.. Many residents became increasingly frustrated with the state’s harsh coronavirus controls that had been continuing for months.
Protests against China’s pervasive anti-virus controls began to spread across the country, morphing into a wider protest against authoritarianism. Many protesters were seen holding a blank sheet of paper that symbolized a condemnation of China’s repressive censorship, and some even called for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to step down. Numerous demonstrations surged even in the country’s capital with heavy police presence.
Following the unprecedented protests, China seems to be loosening coronavirus restrictions on its people, such as the removal of coronavirus testing booths and no longer requiring commuters to present their test results for travel in some cities.
It is expected that China is to announce further reductions in coronavirus restrictions.
The changes in tone on coronavirus seems to be a response to the public discontent with public measures. However, with the fire incident triggering various grievances, Chinese authorities have initiated an emergency level of censorship that is described as the highest level of content management. This includes cracking down on VPN use and rapidly identifying and reporting information on the internet.
Moreover, authorities are also seeking to track, intimidate, and detain those who showed their dissatisfaction and disobedience to the ruling Chinese Communist party by attending demonstrations. The Chinese government is reported as using powerful tools of surveillance, including using face analysis and phone tracking, that have been continuously built and improved over the past decades.