'Want food, not PCR tests': Anti-Xi slogans spread in China amid key CCP meeting

NEW DELHI: In a rare show of public dissent, protests against Xi Jinping are gradually spreading across China in the backdrop of the much-touted Community Party Congress that will give the President a third term in office.
Slogans attacking Xi first featured on banners draped by a lone protester over a Beijing bridge last week.
Since then, the protests have spread to other Chinese cities and across the globe even as censors on the mainland continue to ban any reference to the event or Xi.

Phrases from the original handwritten banners criticized the strict lockdowns and restrictions that have defined Xi’s Covid Zero policy, while also calling for the president’s removal in favor of elections.
“We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns and controls. We want respect, not lies,” one of the banners read.
Notably, even as anti-zero Covid banners are propping up in the country, authorities are doubling down on the pandemic restrictions to prevent a surge in cases in Beijing, where the 7-day CPC is being held.
The slogans against Covid curbs have appeared clandestinely in at least eight Chinese cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong, according to VoiceofCN, a group of anonymous Chinese nationals who run a pro-democracy Instagram account.
Interestingly, bathrooms have become a key spot to express dissent since they are shielded from the ubiquitous security cameras in China’s extensive surveillance apparatus, Bloomberg reported.
Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, described the protests as "very brave, and in many ways, also very sacrificing" due to the proximity to the start of the CPC — the "most important political event in China".
Any public display of opposition toward Xi could lead to a lengthy prison sentence in China, making even relatively isolated protest actions notable.
The current flurry of protest activity resembles the “Not My President” slogans that emerged in overseas universities after Xi lifted presidential term limits in 2018, and the online support for Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo after his death in 2017.
In recent years, even Chinese nationals living overseas and their families back in China have faced repercussions for speech that challenges Beijing.
Meanwhile, since mid-September, a great number of petitioners and activists trying to influence the government have been imprisoned or placed under house arrest throughout China.
The authorities have also arrested more than 1.4 million criminal suspects nationwide since the end of June. The reason: they wanted to create a "safe and stable political and social environment" for the CPC.
(With inputs from Bloomberg, agencies)