Rare anti-lockdown protests in China

In scenes not typically common in China, mass protests have broken out across the country over its stringent zero-Covid policy. As the rest of the world began opening back up throughout 2022 and lessening restrictions, China did the opposite and continued locking down cities with millions of inhabitants. A prominent example is the economic hub of Shanghai, which was locked down during the resurgence of the Omicron variant for two months between April and June.

Public anger at the government's zero-Covid policy had been quietly boiling for the past couple of months. In October, workers at Apple’s largest manufacturing factory in Zhengzhou, which employs 200,000 people, were forced to quarantine inside the factory after an outbreak among the workforce. This month, workers violently clashed with hazmat-clad security and police as they attempted to escape out of the factory. Most workers come from villages outside of the city and take up residence in dormitories inside the factory. 

On the 24th of November, an apartment fire killed 10 people in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang. The city in the northwest of China has been under a Covid lockdown since August and residents blame the deaths on restrictions hindering the firefighters. This incident has only further agitated the Uyghurs in China who make up the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang. China has been accused by the United States and human rights group Amnesty of utilising re-education camps to commit genocide against them.

A candlelit vigil dedicated to the victims of the Urumqi fire in the University of Chicago. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The incident quickly spread around Chinese social media app, Weibo, despite attempts by the government to try and suppress the tragedy. Protests beginning in Urumqi quickly spread to other major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan. Protestors are directly challenging both the ruling Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping himself with demands that both step down. The expectation was that the government will initiate a crackdown on these protests. This seems to have already begun in some cities as police clash with protestors and BBC journalist Edward Lawrence being beaten and kicked while being arrested.

A national symbol has already emerged for the protestors: a simplistic blank piece of paper originally used in the Hong Kong protests in 2019. Showing the immense restrictions of freedom of speech, this tactic of protesting is less likely to result in arrest.  Xi Jinping will be heavily contemplating his next move, looking to suppress a possible uprising, but hoping to avoid a Tiananmen square styled protest.