China tightens security after days of anti zero-COVID protests

Beijing: China has tightened security with heavy police deployment in several cities on Monday including Beijing and Shanghai where thousands of people, took part in protests in past few days against harsh Covid-19 curbs – lockdowns and quarantines, restrictions on freedoms and the ensuing heavy-handed treatment of citizens. 

China’s “zero-Covid” policy has upended the lives of millions of citizens, hit their employment and incomes and slowed down the economy in the past three years. 

There was no official information on how many people were detained after these spontaneous demonstrations were held across China showing rare unity in opposing the harsh zero-COVID policy through means of civil disobedience and expressing their resentment, exasperation and anger. 

According to media reports, police used pepper spray against protesters in Shanghai and struggled to suppress demonstrations in other cities including Beijing. Protests - which has made headlines across the world - were reported in Beijing, Shanghai, Urumqi, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou and in dozens of university campuses which were triggered by the death of 10 people in a tragic fire in a Covid-restricted high-rise in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Smaller protests were also reported in Nanjing, Dali, Changsha and Xi’an.

Barriers were put up in Shanghai around the city centre area where protests took place, and in Beijing, heavy police deployment was made at the Liangma canal and the surrounding area where hundreds had gathered late on Sunday night to hold a candlelight vigil and demonstrated. 

Online videos showed heavy police presence in cities like Wuhan in central China where residents had also gathered to show solidarity to and mourn for the victims of the Urumqi fire. Most references – direct or indirect - to the Urumqi fire or to the protests were removed from China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform. 

The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday also dismissed questions on the exceptionally rare demonstrations, saying they do not reflect “what actually happened”, glossing over the widespread resentment among citizens, which prompted them to gather on the streets and voice their anger. 

Moreover, it did not include any questions related to these nationwide protests in the official transcript of



their daily press briefing as if nothing happened. While the Chinese ministry during Monday’s daily press briefing played down the incident of assault on a BBC journalist during the coverage of the protests in Shanghai, it later did not include the related questions in the official transcript. 

Experts say, this might have been an option for China to chart out a course for some relaxations and eventually a COVID-exit plan but authorities have not even acknowledged the growing public resentment expressed nationwide.

Local media has totally blacked out the outpouring of people’s anger across several cities and universities in China. 

Chinese media, which is mostly Communist party-run or affiliated to the government, has ignored the widespread protests, while carrying several editorials and opinion pieces defending the “zero-Covid” policy as the best option for the country without mentioning a word on the protests. They also emphasized how Chinese authorities are implementing the newly-released 20 measures in a “more targeted and scientific manner” to curb the latest Covid-19 resurgences across the country.

Meanwhile, authorities in Beijing and Guangzhou have eased some zero-Covid measures and warned that essential exits must not be blocked, amid calls for an end to lockdowns following last week’s deadly fire in Urumqi. Health authorities in Beijing said high-risk areas should be defined by units and buildings. These areas could be expanded when transmission risks were unclear, or transmission was widespread in the community but only after “rigorous assessment”. However, it was clear that Zero-COVID is not going to go away anytime soon.

US Embassy on Monday encouraged all U.S. citizens in China to keep a 14-day supply of medications, bottled water, food for yourself & any members of your household as Chinese authorities have "expanded COVID-19 prevention restrictions and control measures" amid outbreaks. Reportedly, 30% of delivery personnel in Beijing are under some type of lockdown affecting the delivery of essentials.