A timeline of Covid-19-related protests in China
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People protesting against Covid-19 curbs in Shanghai on Nov 27, days after a deadly fire apartment in Xinjiang.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING - Discontent has brewed for months in China over the country’s zero-Covid-19 policy, with relentless mass testing, localised lockdowns and travel restrictions pushing many across the country to the brink.
And those frustrations have now spilled onto the streets of some of China’s biggest cities as protesters call for an end to lockdowns and greater political freedoms.
Here is a timeline of key Covid-19-related protests since the start of the year.
Shanghai frustrations
A gruelling lockdown in Shanghai from late March
The measures sparked sporadic protests and food shortages
In April, a six-minute video montage of audio clips of despairing residents quickly went viral in China before being censored.
Social media users posted the video in multiple formats to evade censorship, in the biggest wave of online protest since the Wuhan Covid-19 whistleblower and doctor Li Wenliang died in February 2020.
Campus protests
In May, hundreds of students at one campus of the elite Peking University in Beijing protested against strict lockdown measures
The rare protest was later defused after officials agreed to relax some restrictions.
Campuses across China have been locked down for virtually the entire pandemic, barring visitors and preventing students from returning home easily.
Henan bank protests
A protest over the freezing of deposits by rural banks, outside a People’s Bank of China building in Zhengzhou, China, in July.
PHOTO: REUTERS
From May to July, hundreds of bank depositors who lost their money when multiple rural banks in Henan province froze deposits gathered in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to demonstrate.
Some protesters reported that their Covid health codes inexplicably turned red upon arrival at Zhengzhou, barring them from travel, and accused officials of tampering with the system.
Health codes are used in contact tracing and linked to ID documents. In many cities across China, scanning a health code is a requirement to enter public spaces and use public transport.
Tibet protests
A screengrab from a video widely shared on social media shows what appears to be a protest against strict Covid-19 measures in the Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa.
In October, hundreds in the tightly policed Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa staged a rare demonstration,
Videos showed hundreds of people – who appeared to be mostly migrant workers of Han Chinese ethnicity – marching through the streets, demanding to be allowed to return home.
Protests were geolocated to an area near the Potala Palace, the traditional residence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.
Beijing bridge
Banners with a protest message hangs off Sitong Bridge in Beijing in October.
PHOTO: REUTERS
That same month, just days before China’s ruling party was set to open a landmark congress, a defiant protester draped two hand-painted banners
“No Covid tests, I want to make a living. No Cultural Revolution, I want reforms. No lockdowns, I want freedom. No leaders, I want to vote. No lies, I want dignity. I won’t be a slave, I’ll be a citizen,” one banner read.
The other banner called on citizens to go on strike and remove “the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping”.
Guangzhou clashes
In November, protesters in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou clashed with police,
Videos circulating on social media and verified by AFP showed hundreds taking to the street, some tearing down cordons intended to keep locked-down residents from leaving their homes.
“No more testing,” protesters chanted, with some throwing debris at police.
Foxconn protests
Workers at Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, clashing with riot police on Nov 23.
PHOTO: AFP
Violent protests erupted at the world’s largest iPhone factory, in the city of Zhengzhou,
Hundreds of staff at the plant, owned by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, marched because of disputes over pay and conditions, with some clashes between protesters and riot police.
Foxconn later offered new recruits a bonus equivalent to US$1,400 (S$1,920)
The sprawling factory with more than 200,000 workers has been under lockdown
Urumqi protests
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Xinjiang’s regional capital Urumqi in late November,
Footage partially verified by AFP showed them massing outside the city government offices during the night, chanting: “Lift lockdowns!”
The protests occurred after a fire killed 10 people in a city apartment block. Social media users claimed lockdown measures prevented residents from leaving their homes in time and delayed access to the compound by emergency services.
The rare mass protests in the tightly policed region sparked a wave of similar unrest and mourning vigils across Chinese cities
