Protests Against China's COVID-19 Restrictions Spread To Campus And Cities In Mancanegara

Protests on COVID-19 restrictions in China. (Twitter/@Kathys_leung)

JAKARTA - Protests against China's strict zero-COVID policy and restrictions on freedom have spread to at least a dozen cities around the world, as a form of solidarity with China's rare display of disobedience over the weekend.

Protesters and students are carrying out small-scale protests and protests in cities around the world including London, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, according to a Reuters tally.

In most cases, dozens of people attended protests, although some drew more than 100 people, according to a tally, a rare example of Chinese citizens united in anger at home and abroad.

Protests on the mainland were sparked by fires in China's Xinjiang region last week that killed 10 people trapped in their apartments. Protesters say partial lockdown measures are to blame, even if officials deny it.

On Monday evening, dozens of protesters gathered in the Hong Kong business center, where anti-government demonstrations were sometimes marked by violence in 2019.

"I think it's a normal right for people to express their opinion. I don't think they should suppress this kind of right," said Lam, a 50-year-old Hong Kong resident.

Dozens of students also gathered on the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus to mourn those who died in Xinjiang, according to online video footage.

Separately, the White House's National Security Council said in a statement the United States believed it would be difficult for China to "control this virus through their COVID zero strategy," adding, "each person has the right to protest peacefully, including in the PRC."

Meanwhile, UN Human Rights Office spokesman Jeremy Merde, in an email on Monday, urged authorities to respond to protests in line with international human rights laws and standards.

Menambahkan, mengizinkan pengg debate luas di seluruh masyarakat dapat "bantu membentuk kebijakan publik, memastikannya ditangkap dengan lebih baik dan pada akhirnya lebih efektif."

Since President Xi Jinping took power a decade ago, authorities have strongly suppressed dissent, tightened control over civil society, the media and the internet.

While it has reduced the number of deaths in China to many other countries, strict policies to eradicate the virus have left millions of people confined domestically and undermined the economy of the world's second-largest country.

However, Chinese officials say it must be maintained to save lives, especially among the elderly, given the low vaccination rate.

Several protesters abroad said it was their turn to bear the burden borne by their friends and family.

"That's what I have to do. When I see so many Chinese citizens and students taking to the streets, my feeling is that they bear far more than we have," saidSUrgenese graduate student Seta, one of the organizers of the demonstration in Paris on Sunday, which attracted about 200 people.

"Kami sekarang menunjukkan dukungan untuk mereka dari luar negeri," tukas

Outside the Pompidou Center in Paris, some protesters carried flowers and lit candles for those killed in the Xinjiang fire.

About 90 people gathered in Shinjuku, one of Tokyo's busiest train stations, on Sunday, among them a student from Beijing who said any protests in China against COVID rules would blame the Communist Party.

"The bottom line is the Chinese system," said the student, asking to be identified only as Emmanuel.

But some protesters were uncomfortable with more aggressive slogans.

A protest organizer planned for Monday night at Columbia University in New York, who asked to be identified as Shawn, said he would avoid sensitive issues such as Taiwanese status and ethnic Uighur mass exile in Xinjiang by China.

"We know it might isolate a lot of people," said Shawn, who is from the Chinese city of Fuzhou.

In response to this, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a routine briefing Monday China was unaware of protests abroad calling for an end to its zero-COVID policy.

Asked about domestic protests, the spokesperson said the question did not "represent what really happened", saying China believed the fight against COVID would work with party leadership and people's cooperation.