Protests On COVID-19 Restrictions Are Widespread In China, Shanghai Police, And Protesters Of Involved In Clashes

Illustration of COVID-19 restrictions in Beijing, China. (Wikimedia Commons/N509FZ)

JAKARTA - Hundreds of protesters and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday evening, when protests over China's strict COVID restrictions flared up for a third day and spread to several cities after a deadly fire in the western tip of the country.

A wave of unprecedented civil disobedience in mainland China since President Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago, as frustration escalated over a zero-COVID policy nearly three years after the pandemic. COVID measures have also caused huge losses to the world's second-largest economy.

"I'm here because I love my country, but I don't love my government. I want to be able to get out freely, but I can't. Our COVID-19 policy is a game and is not based on science or reality," said a protester at the financial center named Shaun Xiao., reported Reuters November 28.

Protesters also took to streets in the cities of Wuhan and Chengdu on Sunday, while students at various university campuses across China gathered to demonstrate over the weekend.

In the early hours of Monday in Beijing, two groups of at least 1,000 protesters gathered along the 3rd Ring Road of the Chinese capital near the Liangma River, refusing to disband.

"We don't want masks, we want freedom. We don't want a COVID test, we want freedom," shouted one of the previous groups.

Thursday's fire in a high-level residential building in Urumqi City, the capital of the Xinjiang region, sparked protests, after a video of an incident posted on social media caused allegations of lockdown to be a factor in the blaze that killed 10 people.

Urumqi officials suddenly held a press conference in the early hours of Saturday, to deny COVID's actions have hampered efforts to save themselves and rescue.

Many of Urumqi's four million residents have been under the country's longest lockdown, barred from leaving their homes for 100 days.

On Sunday in Shanghai, police continued to stand guard on Jalan Wulumuqi, named Urumqi, and where the candles the day before turned into protests.

"We just want our human rights. We can't leave our home without getting tested. An accident in Xinjiang that pushes people too far away," said a 26-year-old protester in Shanghai who declined to be identified given a problem sensitivity.

"The people here did not commit violence, but the police arrested them for no reason. They tried to arrest me but the people around me grabbed my hand very hard and pulled me back so I could escape," he said.

Towards Sunday evening, hundreds of people gathered in the area. Some jostled with police trying to disperse them. People raised blank sheets of paper as expressions of protest.

A Reuters witness saw police escorting people into the bus who were then taken away through the crowd with several dozen people on board.

The day before, a reminiscing event in Shanghai for apartment fire victims turned into protests against COVID restrictions, with crowds shouting calls for the lockdown to be lifted.

In the center of Wuhan City, where the pandemic began three years ago, videos on social media showed hundreds of residents taking to the streets, destroying metal barricades, overturning COVID testing tents, and demanding an end to the lockdown.

Other cities that have seen public dissent include Lanzhou in the northwest, where residents on Saturday reversed COVID staff tents and destroyed test booths, according to posts on social media. Protesters said they were locked up even though no one had tested positive.

Videos cannot be independently verified.

Meanwhile, Beijing's prestigious University of Tsinghua on Sunday, dozens of people staged peaceful protests against COVID restrictions in which they sang the national anthem, according to images and videos posted on social media.

China is sticking to its zero-COVID policy, as much of the world has lifted most restrictions. Although low by global standards, China's number of cases has hit a record high over the past few days, with nearly 40,000 new infections on Saturday, prompting more lockdowns in cities across the country.