Covid Lockdown Protests In China

After more than three months of rigorous lockdowns in several areas of the city, authorities in the COVID-19-affected region of Xinjiang's capital Urumqi said on November 26 that COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted gradually.

Rare protests against the government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns have occurred in cities all around China, from the capital Beijing in the north to Urumqi in the west, revealing growing public resentment over the strict regulations.

Urumqi residents protests 

Videos on social media showed Urumqi residents protesting in front of a government building, a day after there was widespread outrage on Chinese social media following a fire in an apartment building in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi that killed at least 10 people. It was widely believed that the delay in putting out the fire was caused by the more than three-month-long lockdown measures in the western Xinjiang region.

After more than three months of rigorous lockdowns in several areas of the city, Urumqi officials announced they will relax COVID-19 restrictions in stages. This is a remarkable climbdown.

One of the most popular subjects on Chinese social media was the Urumqi fire, which led to a furious outcry for tighter COVID-19 regulations as the nation deals with a record number of cases.

Report of cases 

Up from 32,695 previously recorded cases—also a record—the National Health Commission reported 35,183 additional cases, another pandemic high. Over 31,000 of those instances had no symptoms.

 The fact that the majority of cases have been mild or asymptomatic has only served to inflame the public's resentment, as ongoing lockdowns have significant negative economic and social effects. Beijing is among the many cities that have closed their schools.

Rare protests 

Rare protests have also taken place in the Chinese capital, as evidenced in social media footage of people in several residential neighborhoods openly arguing with epidemic enforcers wearing hazmat suits and even tearing down fences. Conflicts over the lockdown measures have also been reported in recent days in other cities, including the iPhone production center of Zhengzhou in central China and Guangzhou in the south.

zero-COVID" policy 

Even while China continues to be an exception from the rest of the world, which has relied on vaccinations to return to some sense of normalcy, Beijing has insisted it will uphold its "zero-COVID" policy. Only 40% of people over the age of 80 have received the three doses of Chinese vaccines needed to prevent hospitalization and death, so the Chinese government is concerned that mass deaths will result from opening; however, it has not made any discernible efforts to revive a flagging vaccination campaign that has taken a backseat to the ongoing focus on locking down and mass testing.