Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
Wednesday, 30 November 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SHANGHAI, AFP: China's major cities of Beijing and Shanghai were blanketed with security on Tuesday in the wake of nationwide rallies calling for political freedoms and an end to COVID lockdowns.
The country's leadership faced a weekend of protests not seen in decades as anger over unrelenting lockdowns fuels deep-rooted frustration with its political system.
A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of the North-western region of Xinjiang, was the catalyst for the wave of outrage, with protesters taking to the streets in cities around China.
The demonstrators said COVID-19 restrictions were to blame for hampering rescue efforts, claims the government has denied as it accused “forces with ulterior motives” of linking the fire deaths to the strict COVID controls.
Anger over lockdowns has widened to calls for political change, with protesters holding up blank sheets of paper to symbolise the censorship to which the world's most populous country is subjected.
More protests had been planned for Monday night but did not materialise. AFP journalists in Beijing and Shanghai noted a heavy police presence of hundreds of vehicles and officers on the streets.
People who had attended weekend rallies told AFP on Monday they had received phone calls from law enforcement officers demanding information about their movements.
In Shanghai, near a site where weekend protests saw bold calls for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, bar staff told AFP they had been ordered to close at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT) for “disease control”.
Small clusters of officers were deployed to metro exits near the protest site. AFP journalists saw officers detaining four people throughout Monday, releasing one later, with a reporter counting 12 police cars within 100 metres along Wulumuqi Street in Shanghai, the focal point of Sunday's rally.
Frustration with zero-COVID remained palpable despite the overwhelming police deployment.
