Rare protests have erupted in the Xinjiang region in China’s far west. Crowds chanted against guards in hazmat suits after a deadly fire sparked anger over prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns as infections across the country set another record.
Crowds chanted “End of lockdown!”, raising their fists in the air as they marched down a street, according to videos that circulated on Chinese social media late on Friday. Reuters verified that the footage was posted from the Xinjiang capital Urumqi.
The videos show people in a square singing China’s national anthem with its lyrics: “Arise, those who refuse to be slaves!”, while others shouted that they wanted to be released from the lockdown.
China has placed the vast region of Xinjiang under some of the country’s longest lockdowns, with many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents being prevented from leaving their homes for up to 100 days. The city has reported about 100 new cases in each of the past two days.
The protests in Urumqi come after a skyscraper fire killed 10 people on Thursday night.
In the capital Beijing, 2.7 kilometers away, some residents under lockdown staged small-scale protests or confronted their local authorities over movement restrictions imposed on them, with some successfully pressuring them to lift the measures ahead of schedule. .
Source: CNN Brasil
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