The Chinese government is trying to push forward with a zero-tolerance policy against Covid 19 cases, and that forces whole regions in China into isolation, and quarantine. Xi Jinping is in the crossfire as protesters intensify the protests and ask for his resignation, as he is unable to deal with the situation appropriately.
At Tsinghua University, students are enraged and out on campus, shouting “freedom will prevail” as they call for the stoppage of the ‘nonsense’ lockdowns. At the same time, big crowds of people return to Middle Urumqi Road in Shanghai to protest for two days straight. The protests are surpassing being calm and passive, as protestors push down and destroy the pandemic barricades in Wuhan.
China Citizens Request Xi Jinping Resignation As Protests Against Covid Restrictions Intensify
This level of protest is unseen in the People’s Republic of China for a long time. The protesters come to protest with a great level of desperation. The people are unable to cope with the measures that the government put for them. The people feel like the government imprisoned them in their own country. Furthermore, the protests go to extreme levels. For the first time, the protesters are calling for the removal of the Communist Party and Xi Jinping.
However, the government in China is not as tolerant as the democratic governments. They forced a large number of police forces to clash with the people on Saturday, trying to control and even brake the protests.
There are numerous videos circulating on Twitter, filmed by anonymous attendants at the protests. People shout and ask for Xi’s resignation.
“Communist party! Step down! Xi Jinping! Step down!” – the people shout as they march toward the police barricades. “No PCR tests, we want freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
People are desperate to break this practice of blind obedience as they claim that they’ve had enough of the stressful life in isolation. They ask for getting rid of the mask mandates and call for spreading love in these ‘dark times’ when the government is making impulsive decisions instead of listening to the voice of the people.
During this period, throughout the protests, the Chinese police intensified the arrests and gets their hands on anyone they can get. There are documented police arrests of protesters on Saturday, however, people refuse to stop with it. They are firmly defending their ground, as they claim that something needs to be done about the situation in China. In Shanghai, the greatest financial and industrial center in China, protesters block streets and march shouting anti-governmental slogans.
The protestors hold blank pieces of white paper as they walk the crowded streets of Shanghai. The white paper became a symbol of the Shanghai protests. A student at Tsinghua University claims that the trend with the paper started when one of the students raised a blank piece of paper and many followed.
Videos of the protests became viral on Twitter and other social media. In one of the videos, it can be heard that the protestors shout – “This is not normal life. We’ve had enough. We want our old lives back.”
This is a breakthrough in China. The communist country is one of the few where protests are a rarity. The police are trying to silence the protests and suppress the citizens by arresting them. This creates special conditions which force the people of China to go and complain on social media.
On social media, people are witnessing mass censorship. Almost none of their calls and posts against the regime go on to get viral on a global scale. They are either blocked, deleted, or shadowbanned by the government.
The Covid regulations are taking their toll in blood as well. In Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, at least 10 people have died and 9 were injured in a fire in a residential building. According to the protesters, the death of these citizens comes as a consequence of the tight COVID regulations in China. They found themselves trapped in the building with no way out due to the regulation. The government denies that the regulations have anything to do with the deaths.
Photos and videos from the massive protests circulate the internet. However, the government hunts and censors them very fast.
The Chinese government banned Twitter in China. Nevertheless, photos and videos of the protests circulate on Twitter, spreading the word about the current situation in China.
“Rise up, those who refuse to be slaves.” – the protesters sing in one of the videos. “Ten thousand years to the people. May the dead rest in peace! I used to be a coward, but today I have to speak up for those who have perished!”
Another photo that circulates on social media portrays a man, a student, standing in front of a COVID testing center. He holds a white paper with ‘Grievously commemorating Nov 24 fire victims’ written on it. ‘I was in the bus which turned over … I was among those who walked hundreds of miles to escape. But, I was the person who jumped to death, I was the person who was trapped in the fire. Nevertheless, if I wasn’t these people, the next one will be me.”
In Shanghai, people start vandalizing billboards. There are numerous billboards with the words ‘Do not stay silent’ written on them. ‘Do not become indifferent. Do not stay silent. Don’t forget.’
The victims’ deaths in the residential building in Xinjiang triggered most of these happenings.
There is no official statement by Xi Jinping about the protests. When there will be one, the protesters imagine that he will distance himself from the responsibility for the deaths in the fire. He will try to blame it all on the local authorities.
The situation in China is serious. Will Xi Jinping resign?
