China tightens security after rare protests against Covid lockdowns

From the streets of several Chinese cities to dozens of university campuses, protesters made a show of civil disobedience unprecedented since leader Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago. During his tenure, Xi has overseen the quashing of dissent and expansion of a high-tech social surveillance system that has made protest more difficult and riskier.

There was no sign of new protests on Monday in Beijing or Shanghai, but dozens of police were in the areas where the weekend demonstrations took place.

Late on Sunday, protesters clashed with police in the commercial hub of Shanghai, where its 25 million people were stuck at home in April and May, with security forces taking away a busload of people.

On Monday, the Shanghai streets where protesters gathered were blocked with blue metal barriers to prevent crowds from gathering. Police in high-visibility vests patrolled in pairs, while police cars and motorbikes cruised by.

Shops and cafes in the area were asked to close, a staff member at one told Reuters.

The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi that killed 10 people. Many speculated that Covid curbs in the city, parts of which had been under lockdown for 100 days, had hindered rescue and escape, which city officials denied.

Crowds in Urumqi took to the street on Friday (November 25). Over the weekend, protesters in cities including Wuhan and Lanzhou overturned Covid testing facilities, while students gathered on campuses across China.

Discussion of the protests, as well as pictures and footage, sparked a game of cat-and-mouse between social media users and censors.

In Beijing, large crowds of peaceful people gathered past midnight on Sunday on a city ring road, some holding blank pieces of paper as a symbol of protest.

The BBC said had assaulted its journalist Ed Lawrence while he was covering a protest in Shanghai and detained him for several hours, drawing criticism from Britain's foreign minister who said the detention was deeply disturbing.

China disputed the account and said the journalist had not identified himself as a reporter.

"He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist," the BBC said.

On Sunday (November 27) in Shanghai, some protesters briefly chanted anti-Xi slogans, almost unheard of in a country where Xi has a level of power unseen since Mao Zedong's era.

Asked about widespread anger over China's zero-Covid policy, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told journalists: "What you mentioned does not reflect what actually happened.

"We believe that with the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and cooperation and support of the Chinese people, our fight against Covid-19 will be successful."

While anger with the Covid rules simmers, some expressed opposition to people taking to the streets.

The backlash against Covid curbs is a setback for China's efforts to eradicate the virus, which is infecting record numbers three years after it emerged in the central city of Wuhan.

The zero-Covid policy has kept China's official death toll in the thousands, against more than a million in the United States, but has come at the cost of confining many millions to long spells at home, bringing extensive disruption and damage to the world's second-largest economy.

Abandoning it would mean rolling back a policy championed by Xi. It would also risk overwhelming the health system and lead to widespread illness and deaths in a country with hundreds of millions of elderly and low levels of immunity to Covid, experts say.

Protests against the Chinese leadership were also staged in London and Tokyo.

The protests roiled global markets on Monday, sending oil prices lower and the dollar higher, with Chinese stocks and the yuan falling sharply.

State media did not mention the protests, instead urging citizens in editorials to stick to Covid rules. Many analysts say China is unlikely to re-open before March or April and needs an effective vaccination campaign before that.