Coronavirus: protests against the “zero covid” policy are multiplying in China.

Hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities in China, where indignation against the draconian policy is growingto “zero covid” imposed by the authorities for almost three years.

In Shanghai, a city of more than 25 million people and which suffered a two-month lockdown this year causing food shortages, hundreds of people they marched in silence through the center of the megalopolis.

As a witness explained to AFP, the demonstrators showed white papers – a gesture that has become a symbol of protest against censorship in China – and white flowers.

The police arrived later and dispersed them.said the witness, who requested anonymity.

At night, an AFP reporter verified that strong security measures were in place. Dozens of policemen in yellow vests cordoned off the streets where the protests had taken place, while other officers asked people to leave the area.

Repression

Hours earlier, a crowd had gathered near Wulumuqi Street – the Mandarin name of Urumqi city – with people chanting “Xi Jinping, step down, step down!”in a rare show of rejection by the Chinese president, according to a video released by social networks and geolocated by AFP.

In Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region (west), ten people died on Thursday in a fire. The incident has generated outrage on social media, considering that the confinements have complicated the rescue of the victims.

A protester from Shanghai who asked not to be named told AFP he arrived at a rally when “a group of people were paying their respects and laying flowers on the sidewalk, while another group shouted slogans.

“It’s heartwarming to see so many like-minded people come together,” she added. “It’s impressive that in the current circumstances there are still brave people standing.”

Several witnesses said various people they were forcibly taken away by the police. Shanghai police, contacted by AFP, declined to comment.

in Beijing, hundreds of students from the prestigious Tsinghua University demonstrated on the campus on Sunday, according to an eyewitness contacted by AFP and videos posted online.

The witness said that around 11:30 (03:30 GMT), a student brandished a blank sheet of paper and other women joined her.

“We sing the anthem and the Internationale and we shouted ‘freedom will triumph’, ‘no to trials’, ‘we want food’, ‘no to imprisonment, we want freedom'”, added the witness.

Videos posted online showed a crowd outside the university dining hall, gathered around a speaker.

“Fed up”

“This is not a normal life, we are fed up. Our lives weren’t like this before,” the speaker cried.

A memorial vigil for the victims of the Urumqi fire was also held at Peking University, near Tsinghua University. According to a student who attended, the protests started on Saturday night and gathered between 100 and 200 people.

“I heard people shouting: ‘no to covid tests, yes to freedom’He explained this to AFP with images and videos that corroborated the facts.

According to other records, there were demonstrations in Nankin (east), as well as Xian, Wuhan (central) and Guangzhou (south), but AFP could not authenticate the images.

Protests take place amidst fed up population from the government’s zero tolerance covid strategy.

China is the latest major economy maintaining the “zero covid” strategy, with lockdowns, extended quarantines and massive testing to eradicate sources of infection as soon as they appear.

On Sunday, China signed up 39,506 local infections of covid-19a record number for this country of 1,400 million inhabitants.

After the deadly fire in Urumqi, hundreds of people gathered in front of the local government shouting “Remove the blockade!”, according to images partially verified by AFP.

AFP was able to verify the videos by geolocating local landmarks, but it could not be determined when the demonstrations took place.

After the protests, the authorities said on Saturday that Urumqi “has reduced social transmissions to zero” and will orderly restore “normal life” in low-risk areas.

AFP agency

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