IN THE WORLD TODAY

Students sent home amid Covid rallies

CHINESE universities have sent students home and police fanned out in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests after crowds angered by anti- Covid restrictions. This called for President Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades.

Authorities have eased some controls after demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong. However showed no sign of backing off their larger zero- Covid strategy, which has confined millions of people to their homes for months at a time.

Security forces have detained an unknown number of people and stepped up surveillance. Since then, there have been no signs of protesters.

The widespread demonstrations over the weekend were unprecedented since the army crushed the 1989 student- led pro- democracy movement centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

A far smaller group gathered at a university in Hong Kong to protest over restrictions. They chanted against virus restrictions and held up banners with slogans reading “Say no to Covid panic” and “No dictatorship but democracy”.

Beijing’s Tsinghua University, where students rallied over the weekend, and other schools in the capital and the southern province of Guangdong said they were protecting students from Covid- 19 by sending them home. Universities said classes and final exams will be conducted online.

Yesterday, the head of the International Monetary Fund said it is time for China to move away from massive lockdowns and towards a more targeted strategy, saying the zero- Covid approach had “significant economic costs”.