Urumqi, Shanghai, Beijing. The anger is widespread and is taking an increasingly political turn. A large part of the population chinoise crie are ras-le-bol devant la politique “zero Covid” imposed by their governments – et ses contraintes – au point parfois de briser un tabou et d’oser réclaimer le département de Xi Jinping, le président From the country.
A mobilization that, however, must be followed with caution because if the videos illustrating the movement multiply on the Internet, they always require authentication, since the opacity around the Chinese regime is profound.
But the fury is undeniable. It must be said that despite several available vaccines, and contrary to the rest of the world, the Asian country continues to impose lockdowns as soon as the first cases appear and quarantine people who test positive. This almost 3 years after the start of the epidemic. Almost daily PCR tests are also required to access public places.
never seen”
The early hours of this Sunday was first in Shanghai where the protests against the confinements broke out, according to the accounts of eyewitnesses. A widely circulated video on the internet, which AFP has geolocated on Wulumuqi street in downtown Shanghai, shows protesters shouting “Xi Jinping, resign!” and also to attack the Chinese Communist Party, a rare display of hostility against the president and the regime in the country’s economic capital.
Stéphane Lagarde, RFI’s correspondent in China, noted in particular the unprecedented nature of this call for the departure of the communist leader, who broadcast the video.
Another video transmitted to AFP by a witness shows people gathered in downtown Shanghai to pay their respects to the ten people who died in a fire at a residential building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, western China on Thursday.
Many posts circulating on Chinese social networks accuse the anti-Covid measures of having aggravated the drama by delaying the arrival of aid. According to other social media posts, memorial vigils for the Urumqi victims were held at various universities across the country. the correspondent of World in China he shared one of these scenes from Shanghai.
“Demonstration in support of Urumqi in Shanghai, and against health policy. ‘We want freedom, democracy, freedom of expression of the press’ ask the young people gathered (I let the Sinisizers appreciate this last slogan)”, he describes. , before assuring: “I have never seen that in China.”
censorship in social networks
A person who participated in the Shanghai protests told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that he arrived at the demonstration around 2 am “A group of mourners laid flowers on the sidewalk, another group chanted slogans,” said this witness. “There were some minor fights, but overall the surveillance was civil,” he continued. “At least two people were detained by police for unknown reasons.”
“Freedom Will Triumph”
Maintaining “civilized” order according to this witness but immediate censorship. The authorities were quick to restrict online discussions of the protest. The expression “Urumqi road” was censored on the Weibo platform, close to Twitter, almost immediately after the images of the demonstrations were released.
Therefore, the increase in Chinese fatigue with the draconian policy of fighting the pandemic is noticeable. Sporadic and sometimes violent protests had already broken out in several cities in recent days, including the world’s largest iPhone factory located in Zhengzhou in the center of the country and owned by Taiwanese giant Foxconn.
And the movement continues to spread in the country. Thus, this Sunday always, it is within the capital itself where the protest was heard. Several hundred students from the prestigious Beijing Tsinghua University participated in a demonstration. “At 11:30, the students began to put banners at the entrance to the dining room. Then more and more people joined them. Now there are between 200 and 300 people. We sang the national anthem and the ‘International’ and chanted: ‘Freedom’. succeed,'” described one of the students.
Source: BFM TV
