China is where COVID-19 is known to have originated. But now its own citizens and students are fighting against the country's COVID policy. What is this zero-COVID strategy? Well, China's zero-COVID strategy means snap lockdowns, long quarantines for citizens and mass testing campaigns over just a handful of cases. Snap lockdowns are lockdowns that go on for three weeks straight and affected residents have no choice but to stay at home. This has affected many businesses very badly and the biggest Chinese city, Shanghai, was plagued with food shortages after being under lockdown for two months.
So, why did this policy invite criticism and how is this affecting citizens? How and when did the protest begin? #WhatTheFAQ is here to disclose all these details.
What led to protests?
It all started on Thursday, November 24, in Urumqi in China and the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region. A deadly fire broke out at a high-rise building in Urumqi which took away the life of ten residents. While the common people claimed that it is because of the lockdown restrictions that the rescue operations were hampered, Urumqi officials denied these allegations.
This policy has angered the public and with frustration, they resorted to staging protests.
What are the citizens and protestors saying?
As per a Reuters report, Urumqi's four million residents were under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days. Considering this and now, following the fire mishap, more than hundreds of people gathered outside the city's government offices.
Additionally, from Sunday, November 27, residents of Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Lanzhou have also extended their support to the ongoing protests. Citing COVID policy as "a game" which is not based on science or reality, the protestors demanded basic human rights and pointed out that the apartment fire in Xinjiang "pushed people too far". Moreover, they also staged a rally with blank sheets of paper, flowers and candles. Also, some of them were noted chanting, "Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!," as per media reports.
With the backlash continuing into the early hours of Monday, November 28 in Beijing, two groups of protesters with at least 1,000 people were gathered along the Chinese capital's 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River, refusing to disperse. "We don’t want masks, we want freedom. We don’t want COVID tests, we want freedom," one of the groups chanted. In other cities like Lanzhou which saw public dissent, protesters smashed testing booths and said that they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive, as stated in a report by India Today.
What is the current situation?
As per reports, authorities moved to censor online content on demonstrations. Today, in the early hours, around 200 to 300 students staged a rally at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University to protest against lockdowns and in a video that appeared to be taken in the same location, students were seen shouting, "Democracy and the rule of law, freedom of expression", which was quickly taken down.
Additionally, a BBC journalist was hand-cuffed and arrested for reporting the protest. Although he was released later, this is what BBC said in its statement post the arrest
"The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai. 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. It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked in this way whilst carrying out his duties. We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd. We do not consider this a credible explanation."
Covid and China, what is the relationship like?
On Sunday, China reported 39,506 COVID-19 cases, a record high but small compared to caseloads in the West at the height of the pandemic. To recall, for a long time, there were travel restrictions in Wuhan city as well, the place where COVID began.
With these ongoing troubles and protests, how is this going to turn for the government and the public?
