Protests
China has tightened its security due to lockdown protests
China has moved quickly to quell weekend protests across the country, deploying police forces at key protest sites and tightening online censorship. The protests were sparked by outrage over the country’s increasingly expensive zero-Covid policy, but as the number of protesters grew in multiple major cities, so did the range of grievances expressed – with some calling for greater democracy and freedom. Hundreds of protesters have even called for the removal of Chinese President Xi Ji...[Read More]
Protests in China highlight Xi’s Zero COVID policy
According to China commentators, the unusual street protests that erupted in cities throughout China over the weekend were a referendum against President Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy and the strongest public resistance during his political tenure. Not since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989 have so many Chinese risked jail and other consequences to come to the streets for a single topic. “During Xi Jinping’s ten years in office, these are the most visible and broad ...[Read More]
China’s ‘white paper’ protests wrecking top stationery chains
The rare protests that swept through China over the weekend frequently featured demonstrators holding blank white paper, a phenomenon that has caused problems for the country’s largest stationery chain. Young demonstrators held up sheets of white paper in a symbolic protest against censorship, a metaphor for the critical social media posts, news articles, and outspoken online accounts that have been removed from the internet as thousands of people took to the streets. Demonstrators demande...[Read More]
Lockdown protests in China have spread to universities and cities abroad
Protests against China’s strict zero-Covid policy and restrictions on freedoms have spread to at least a dozen cities worldwide in solidarity with rare displays of defiance in China over the weekend. According to Reuters, expatriate dissidents and students held small-scale vigils and protests in cities around the world, including London, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney. The protests drew dozens of people in most cases, though a few drew more than 100, according to the tally. The protests are a ra...[Read More]
China shows no signs of relenting on Zero-Covid policies as public outrage grows
Zhou, an auto dealer in northeastern China, last saw his father alive in a video chat on November 1, hours after their home on Beijing’s outskirts was locked down. They were unaware of the snap at the time. Covid restrictions had been imposed without prior notice, and the apartment building where Zhou’s parents and 10-year-old son lived had no cases, he claimed. The family learned the hard way when Zhou’s father was denied immediate emergency medical help after struggling to br...[Read More]
