Lockdown protests in China have stalled as police flood the city’s streets

HONG KONG (AP) — With police out in force, no additional protests against the government’s tough anti-pandemic measures were reported Tuesday in Beijing, where temperatures plunged below freezing. Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities where calls were issued online to gather were also reported to be quiet.

Rallies against China’s unusually stringent anti-virus measures spread to several cities over the weekend in the biggest show of dissent The ruling Communist Party for decades. Authorities have eased some regulations, apparently in an effort to quell public anger, but the government has shown no sign of backing down from its larger coronavirus strategy, and analysts expect the authorities to quickly quiet down. opposition.

An eyewitness said that police conducted a random check of phones at the People’s Square metro station in Shanghai on Monday evening. The person declined to reveal his name for fear of reprisals, as he was on his way to a planned demonstration near the station, but did not find him.

In Hong Kong on Monday, about 50 mainland Chinese students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong sang and lit some candles in a show of support for those in mainland cities who have demonstrated against restrictions that have confined millions to their homes. Hiding their faces to avoid official reprisals, the students chanted, “No PCR tests but freedom!” and “oppose dictatorship, don’t be slaves!”

The rally and a similar gathering elsewhere in Hong Kong were the biggest protests there in more than a year under rules imposed to crush a pro-democracy movement in the territory, which is Chinese but has a separate legal system from the mainland.

“I wanted to speak for a long time, but I didn’t get the chance to,” said James Kay, a 29-year-old from Shanghai who attended a protest in Hong Kong and held up a white paper, symbolizing defiance of the ruling party’s rampant censorship. “If the people on the mainland can’t stand it anymore, then I can’t either.”

It is not clear how many people have been arrested since the protests began on the mainland Friday, sparked by outrage over the death of 10 people in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi.. That sparked angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape had been blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls. The authorities denied this, but the incident became a target for public frustration with the controls.

Without mentioning the protests or criticizing Xi or the fire, some local authorities eased restrictions on Monday.

The Beijing city government has announced that it will no longer set up gates to prevent access to residential complexes where there are infections.

“Corridors should remain clear of medical transports, emergency escapes and rescue operations,” said Wang Daguang, a city official in charge of epidemic control, according to the official Chinese news service.

Guangzhou, the manufacturing and commerce hub that is the biggest hot spot in China’s latest wave of infections, has announced that some residents will no longer be required to undergo mass testing.

The US embassy advised citizens to prepare for all eventualities and said that Ambassador Nicholas Burns and other US diplomats have “regularly raised our concerns about many of these issues directly.”

“We encourage all US citizens to keep a 14-day supply of medicine, bottled water, and food for yourself and any members of your household,” the embassy said in a statement on Monday.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “there are obviously people in China who have concerns about that,” referring to the shutdowns.

“They’re protesting that, and we think they should be able to do it peacefully,” Kirby said at a news briefing Monday.

Urumqi, where the fire occurred, and another city in the northwest region of Xinjiang, announced that markets and other businesses in areas deemed to be at low risk of infection will reopen this week and public bus service will resume.

“Zero COVID,” which aims to isolate every infected person, has helped keep case numbers in China lower than those in the United States and other major countries. But the measures have been tolerated, with people in some areas confined to their homes for up to four months and who say they lack reliable access to food and medical supplies.

Last month, the ruling party promised to reduce the disruption by changing its quarantine and other rules, known as the “Twenty Guidelines”. But the high number of infections prompted cities to tighten control.

On Tuesday, the number of daily cases fell slightly to 38,421 after setting new records over recent days. Of those, 34,860 were among the people who did not show any symptoms.

The People’s Daily, affiliated with the ruling party, called for the effective implementation of its strategy to combat the virus, noting that Xi’s government had no plans to change course.

A commentator wrote in People’s Daily: “The facts have fully proven that every version of the prevention and control plan has withstood the test of practice.”

In Hong Kong, Chinese University protesters put up posters reading, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive,” and sang including “Do You Hear People Sing?” from the musical Les Misérables. Most hid their faces behind blank white sheets of paper.

“I want to show my support,” said a 24-year-old student from the mainland who identified herself as G for fear of reprisals. “I care about things I couldn’t identify with in the past.”

University security guards videotaped the event but there was no sign of police presence.

At an event in Central, a business district, about forty demonstrators carried white papers and flowers in what they said was mourning for the fire victims in Urumqi and others who died as a result of “non-coronavirus” policies.

Police cordoned off an area around the protesters, who stood in separate small groups to avoid violating pandemic rules banning gatherings of more than 12 people. Police took the participants’ identification details but there were no arrests.

Hong Kong has tightened security controls and rolled back Western-style civil liberties since China launched a crackdown in 2019 to crush a pro-democracy movement. The region has its own anti-virus strategy separate from the mainland.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is a law-and-order hardliner who has spearheaded a crackdown on protesters, including on university campuses.

Both the Hong Kong government and the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued statements on Monday pledging to uphold public order and the authority of the national security law, which gives authorities sweeping powers to charge protesters with crimes including sedition.

Protests also broke out over the weekend in the city of Guangzhou near Hong Kong, Chengdu and Chongqing in the southwest, and Nanjing in the east, according to witnesses and video on social media. Earlier, the city of Guangzhou witnessed violent confrontations between the police and residents who were protesting against the quarantine.

Most of the protesters complained about the excessive restrictions, but some have turned their anger on Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s. In video verified by the Associated Press, a crowd in Shanghai on Saturday chanted, “Xi Jinping! Get down! CCP! Get down!”

The BBC said that one of its correspondents was beaten, kicked, handcuffed and detained for several hours by the Shanghai police, but was later released.

The BBC criticized what it said was the Chinese authorities’ interpretation of detaining its correspondent to prevent him from contracting the Corona virus from the public. “We do not consider this interpretation to be credible,” the radio said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the BBC reporter had failed to be identified and “did not voluntarily provide” his press credentials.

“Foreign journalists need to consciously follow Chinese laws and regulations,” Zhao said.

The Swiss RTS channel said that its reporter and cameraman were arrested while they were broadcasting live, but they were released after a few minutes. An Associated Press journalist was arrested but later released.

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Associated Press writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed.