Public outrage over new COVID lockdown restrictions has fueled rare protests within China, with residents demanding the government to lift restrictions ahead of schedule and some calling for President Xi Jinping's resignation.
Some of the protesters held blank sheets of paper — a protest of censorship — and chanted, "need human rights, need freedom." Other protesters called for Xi and the Communist Party to "step down" while still others shouted, "don't want dictatorship, want democracy!"
The protest dispersed after police arrested several protesters. On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of Shanghai residents gathered again amidst heavy police presence, with some shouting, "release the people!," CNN reported.Urumqi has faced COVID restrictions since early August, according to WSJ. The city shut down transportation, which left some tourists stuck there.
Officials have promised the lockdown will lift soon, but said they are waiting from Beijing for more orders on how to implement COVID protocols in the future, per WSJ.uses lockdowns and city restrictions in an attempt to hold off the spread of the coronavirus. At the beginning of the pandemic, many residents said the government had protected the people through the policy. But now, it's led to this civil unrest.
The Chinese government faces a choice of whether to continue the lockdowns and face civil unrest or learn to live with the virus.via Axios' Bethany Allen: Protests in Xinjiang, where security forces and surveillance cameras blanket the region and many ethnic minorities have been swept up into internment camps, are even rarer than in the rest of China — suggesting the level of desperation that might drive residents to protest despite the risk of being detained.
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