Protests ensued in China’s capital city against the Xi Jinping administration’s right zero-Covid policy, ahead of the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress where the Chinese president is poised for a historic third term.
Pictures circulating on social media platforms showed two banners hung on an overpass, protesting against zero-Covid policy and Communist authoritarian rule.
The banners read Food, not COVID test; Reform, not a Cultural Revolution; Freedom, not lockdowns; Votes, not a leader. Dignity, not lies. Citizens, not slaves etc.
The banners rattled the Chinese government as cops were deployed across the city to confine the protests and mobile patrolling has been intensified.
Undaunted by the rare protests, the CPI mouthpiece People’s Daily came strongly in support of the zero-COVID policy.
“If there is a large-scale COVID-19 resurgence, the spread of the epidemic will have a serious impact on economic and social development, and the final cost will be higher and the loss will be greater,” one of the commentaries in the daily said.
The Chinese economy is showing a downward trend due to its strict COVID policy which leads to prolonged lockdowns severely disrupting normal lives. The unemployment rate has also expanded to 19%, the highest in recent years.
China suppresses social media about protest banners
Soon after the banners emerged, China’s internet censors moved quickly to scrub social media posts on it. Twitter is already blocked in India. Posts containing Beijing were quickly blocked on Weibo. Some accounts were also temporarily disabled on WeChat, AP reported.
China has the world’s largest online population, building a reliance on the web for shopping and entertainment even while authorities carefully track commentary and quash any criticism of Xi and other party leaders.
