Real Xi revealed as his thugs attack a woman
A defiant Chinese woman has been dubbed the new “Tank Lady” after facing down riot police as security forces crack down on protests around China demanding political freedoms and an end to Covid lockdowns.
Footage shows the unidentified woman standing still as police surround her in an unnamed city and steal her phone before beating her after she refused to budge when she was ordered to stop filming.
It’s not clear what then happened to the woman as another enforcer forces the cameraman to stop recording, although the person who posthai ed the video online said she was “beaten up”.
The scene is reminiscent of the “Tank Man” who stood in front of a row of tanks moving through Tiananmen Square during the 1989 massacre.
Security forces filled the streets of Beijing and Shangfollowing online calls for another night of protests, with some reports of people being taken away by police.
Protesters have also gathered at university campuses in a wave of nationwide protests not seen since the 1989 prodemocracy rallies were crushed, with some even calling for President Xi Jinping to stand down as well as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, was the catalyst for public anger, with many blaming Covid-19 lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.
Beijing has accused “forces with ulterior motives” for linking the fire to Covid measures.
China’s online censorship machine also worked to scrub signs of the social media-driven rallies. Some social media sites have been inundated with sexually explicit content in a move seen as an attempt by authorities to slow the spread of protests.
Major websites are reportedly returning search results of porn, ads for escorts, and gambling in the cities where mass protests are raging across the country.
Police have thwarted planned protests in Beijing when several dozen police officers and vans choked a crossroad near an assembly point.
In Hong Kong, where mass democracy protests erupted in 2019, dozens gathered at the Chinese University to mourn the victims of the Urumqi fire.
“Don’t look away. Don’t forget. We are not foreign forces. We are Chinese youth,” they shouted.
Protesters have notably used the rallies to call for greater freedoms, with some even demanding the resignation of Mr Xi, recently reappointed to a historic third term as China’s leader, and the entire. Communist Party.