Shanghai boosts security after rare protests against Covid restrictions across China

Shanghai authorities lifted barriers around a central area of ​​the city on Monday, where hundreds of people protested strict Covid-19 measures over the weekend, as anti-curfew demonstrations spread across China.

From the streets of Shanghai and the capital, Beijing, to dozens of university campuses, protesters have staged an unprecedented demonstration of civil disobedience since leader Xi Jinping took power a decade ago, overseeing a crackdown on the opposition, and established comprehensive social surveillance in high-tech.

“We hope to end the lockdown,” said Shi, 28, at a candlelight vigil in Beijing on Sunday night. “We want to live a normal life. We must all express our feelings boldly.”

There was no sign of further protests in Beijing or Shanghai on Monday.

“What you’re talking about doesn’t really reflect what happened,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said when asked about widespread anger over China’s Covid-0 policy.

We believe that with the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the cooperation of the Chinese people, our fight against Kovid-19 will be successful.”

The response to Covid restrictions is a failure in efforts to eradicate the virus, which has spread to record numbers three years after it emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The Covid-zero policy has kept the official death toll in China in the thousands versus more than a million in the US, but confining themselves to extended periods at home has cost millions and brought major disruption and damage to the latter. largest economy in the world.

To abandon it would be to reverse a policy that Xi advocated. This would also risk overwhelming the healthcare system, experts say, leading to widespread illness and death in a country with hundreds of millions of seniors and low COVID immunity.

Protests shook global markets Monday.

State media did not mention the protests, but in their editorials they urged citizens to abide by the Covid rules. Many analysts say China is unlikely to reopen before March or April and needs an effective vaccination campaign before then.

“The demonstrations do not directly threaten the current political order, but do mean that the current Covid policy mix is ​​no longer politically sustainable,” analysts at Gavekal Dragonomics wrote in a note.

“Now the question is what the reopening will be like. The answer is: slow, incremental and confusing.”

OBSTACLES

On Sunday night, protesters clashed with police in Shanghai’s commercial center, where 25 million people were trapped indoors in April and May.

The BBC said police attacked one of its journalists covering the events and detained him before releasing him a few hours later. A Reuters reporter was also detained for about 90 minutes before being released on Sunday night.

Zhao of the Foreign Ministry said the BBC correspondent did not identify himself as a journalist. The Shanghai government did not comment.

On Monday, the streets of Shanghai where protesters gathered were closed with blue metal barriers to prevent crowds. Policemen wearing high-visibility vests patrolled as patrol cars and motorcycles passed.

An official told Reuters that shops and cafes in the area were told to close.