‘Covid Zero’ in China: Authorities investigate demonstrators

Retribution for fear? More than three days have passed since demonstrations against the draconian “zero-Covid” policy introduced by Xi Jinping at the beginning of the pandemic and have not stopped since then have been held in several cities in China. And according to the Reuters news agency, the country’s authorities have launched investigations against some of the participants in these protests, in particular in Beijing.

One stakeholder said the police called him to ask him to go to the police station to justify his actions on Sunday evening. Another said it was his colleagues who asked about his whereabouts during the protests. Another witness said that one of her friends was taken away by the police after a simple identity check and finally released a few hours later.

This Monday afternoon, AFP journalists witnessed the detention of four people, one of whom was later released. The reporter counted 12 police cars parked within 100 meters of Urumqi Street, the epicenter of protests in Shanghai on Sunday.

The police are still present

The cities of Beijing and Shanghai remained under heavy police presence on Tuesday to prevent more gatherings. Faced with large police forces deployed by vehicle and on foot, several demonstrations scheduled for Monday evening did not take place.

But some nevertheless managed to come together, especially in Hong Kong, rocked by democratic demonstrations in 2019, where dozens of people paid tribute to the victims of the Urumqi fire at the Chinese University, AFP notes. And in Hangzhou, a city about 170 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, small protests have erupted, according to images circulating on social media, some of which have been geolocated by AFP.

Chinese communist authorities are facing the biggest protest movement since the 1989 pro-democracy mobilizations. An uprising is extremely rare, given the crackdown on any form of opposition to the government.

In the background, the popular populace is weary after nearly three years of a strict zero Covid policy – with repeated confinement and now almost daily PCR tests of residents – but also deep frustrations with China’s political system.

The cause was a deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region (northwest). Medical restrictions have been blamed for hampering the work of rescuers, but the government rejected the arguments on Monday.

This tension comes as China again faces a Covid-19 infection that has led to multiple incarcerations. However, some softening gestures have appeared in recent days. From this Tuesday, residents of Urumqi can once again travel by bus for shopping. The city of Beijing has banned “the practice of locking the doors of buildings in gated communities,” the Xinhua news agency reported.