BEIJING – Police in Beijing and Shanghai are deploying heavy-duty equipment to prevent the spread of protests against the Chinese government’s Covid-19 restrictions and demands for the resignation of President Xi Jinping. The stand of the government is that it is sticking to the Covid restrictions and will not give any relaxation.
The strike started against the Covid restrictions has spread to the major cities of the country. Protesters have been arrested in Shanghai and Hangzhou. There are media reports that police patrolling has been intensified in Beijing and Shanghai. This follows information that the agitators may be communicating and congregating through Telegram groups. International media reports quoting some local residents that the police buy and check the phones of people on the road. This is to check if the phone has the Telegram app and is connected to a Virtual Private Network (VPN). China has banned it.
The protests are the biggest in China since President Xi came to power. Following the lockdown restrictions and protests, the Chinese economy is facing a sharp decline.
With the strong student protests at Nanjing and Tsinghua universities, the students were allowed to go home by bringing forward the vacation that was supposed to start in January. Hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Liangmahe River in Beijing yesterday to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of those killed in an apartment fire in the northwestern province of Xinjiang during the lockdown. The protestors alleged that the rescue operation was hampered due to the Covid lockdown and that caused the death toll to increase. After the protest lasted for several hours, the police arrested many people.
Demonstrations have also taken place in foreign cities such as London, Paris and Tokyo in sympathy with the ongoing protests in China demanding the resignation of President Xi Jinping.
English Summary: China police out in huge numbers to prevent protests