Protests over virus curbs erupt in China
Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China's powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.
Police using pepper spray drove away demonstrators in Shanghai who called for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule, but hours later people rallied again in the same spot. Police again broke up the demonstration, and a reporter saw protesters under arrest being driven away in a bus.
The protests — which began Friday and have spread to cities including the capital, Beijing, and dozens of university campuses — are the most widespread show of opposition to the ruling party in decades.
In a video of the protest in Shanghai verified by the Associated Press, chants sounded loud and clear: “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!”
Three years after the virus first emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of COVID-19 under a “zero COVID” policy that regularly sees millions of people confined to their homes and requires near-constant testing.
Protests erupted after a fire broke out Thursday and killed at least 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi in the northwest, where some have been locked in their homes for four months. That prompted an outpouring of angry questions online about whether firefighters or people trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other antivirus restrictions.
About 300 demonstrators gathered late Saturday in Shanghai, most of whose 25 million people were confined to their homes for almost two months starting in late March. Some called for an official apology for the deaths in the fire in Urumqi in the Xinjiang region.
The human rights group Amnesty International appealed to Beijing to allow peaceful protest.