Angry students take on Xi
On the campus of Peking University, whose students led the Tiananmen protests in 1989, a swelling crowd gathered to face down the security guards, then began to sing the Internationale.
Across Beijing at Tsinghua, students thronged around their university buildings to join an unusual chant for China that spells danger for President Xi Jinping’s efforts to consolidate complete control over his country: ‘‘Democracy, rule of law, and freedom of expression!’’
Some were brave enough to come forward to explain their actions: ‘‘If we dare not speak up because we are afraid of being detained, I think our people will be disappointed in us,’’ one student said in a video that has been shared widely on social media. ‘‘As a Tsinghua student, I would regret it for the rest of my life.’’
Her words drew applause. Others around her simply held up blank sheets of paper in protest against censorship.
Students have been among those worst affected by three years of draconian lockdown restrictions aimed at eradicating Covid-19 in China, many having spent much of their newfound adulthood in isolation. Yet they are far from the only ones.
The nation has grown exhausted and frustrated by the country’s zero-Covid prevention and control measures, which involve frequent PCR tests and sudden lockdowns.
That frustration boiled over into anger after the death of ten people trapped in a high-rise fire in the city of Urumqi, in Xinjang region, on Thursday, where residents have endured a lockdown of more than three months.
Their deaths are widely blamed on control measures that blocked escape routes and obstructed rescue efforts. Members of the public were further infuriated after a local fire chief blamed the victims, saying that ‘‘some residents’ ability to rescue themselves was too weak’’.
Protesters at another location in the city chanted: ‘‘No lies but dignity, no Cultural Revolution but reforms, no leader but ballots, no slaves but citizens!’’ Hundreds of police descended on both groups on Sunday, violently dispersing the crowds with tear gas and bundling several people into vans.
A man with a bouquet of yellow flowers could be seen being dragged into a police car.
In the southwestern city of Chengdu, protesters gathered to demand an end to the PCR tests. ‘‘No lockdown but freedom,’’ they chanted. ‘‘We want to go to work. We want to go to school’’.
Similar protests have also been reported in the northwestern city of Xian, the southern city of Haikou, the central city of Wuhan and the eastern city of Hangzhou.
The protests are said to be the biggest since June 4, 1989, when hundreds, if not thousands, of students and residents were killed when Chinese forces opened fire on unarmed, prodemocracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. The exact number of casualties has never been confirmed.
‘‘From yesterday to tonight, from Beijing to Chengdu, from Shanghai to Wuhan, mass protests of varying sizes have broken out in many cities, and all have political demands,’’ Wang Dan, a former student leader of the 1989 student protests, wrote on Facebook.
‘‘A nationwide public revolt is already happening,’’ he wrote, adding the tension may ease if Beijing softens its stance. ‘‘But, if they use a violent crackdown policy or even open fire, a major event altering the world will happen,’’ Wang said.
‘‘Should Xi Jinping mobilise the military, the fall of the Chinese Communist Party, which we think would be far off, could happen quickly.’’
In the past couple of weeks, protests erupted among migrant workers in the southern city of Guangzhou and on the premises of Foxconn, the world’s largest iPhone factory, where workers were upset with anti-Covid measures and wage problems.
Then came an unnamed man in the southwest city of Chongqing who openly ridiculed the country’s zero-Covid measures and criticised government policy.
In recent days, posts questioning the country’s zero-Covid policy have mushroomed on social media, as well as video snippets of the protests, although they are quickly removed, prompting the street demonstrators to denounce censorship. Protests took place at 53 universities across the country, according to crowdsourced videos. ‘‘These unprecedented protests show that people are at the end of their tolerance for excessive Covid-19 restrictions,’’ Hana Young,
‘‘Should Xi Jinping mobilise the military, the fall of the Chinese Communist Party, which we think would be far off, could happen quickly.’’
Wang Dan
A former student leader of the 1989 student protests
Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said in a statement. ‘‘The Chinese government must immediately review its Covid-19 policies to ensure that they are proportionate and timebound. All quarantine measures that pose threats to personal safety and unnecessarily restrict freedom of movement must be suspended.’’
The group also urged Beijing to allow people to express themselves.
‘‘It is virtually impossible for people in China to protest peacefully without facing harassment and prosecution. Authorities have shown zero tolerance to opposition, especially in the last ten years under Xi, but this has not stopped the protests. Instead of penalising the people, the government should listen to their calls. Authorities must let people express their thoughts freely and protest peacefully without fear of retaliation.’’
The government will now be pondering whether to heed that advice or crack down harder. Students at the Communication University of China, Nanjing, had lit up their phone cameras in a vigil to remember the victims of the Urumqi fire when a university official appeared. ‘‘Long live the people,’’ the crowd chanted. ‘‘For the dead, rest in peace.’’
The official’s response was sinister. Speaking to the students through a loudspeaker, he warned them: ‘‘One day, you will pay a price for what you are doing today.’’ – The Times