Anti-lockdown protests intensify in China as Covid cases hit record high

NEW DELHI: Anti-lockdown protests opposing China's strict zero-Covid policy have taken over the country as coronavirus cases continue to rise sharply. Nearly 40,000 infections were reported on Sunday.
Protests spread across China's financial hub Shanghai, Xinjiang and capital city Beijing.
A fresh wave of anger was sparked among the citizens after a deadly fire killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region.
The footage of protests, which was later censored, showed hundreds of residents in a public square outside a government office, chanting slogans “serve the people” and “end the lockdown”, and singing the national anthem.
Many internet users said that the residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied.
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Situation in Beijing
In Beijing, people from several compounds, also staged protests, leading to officials withdrawing the curbs.
Meanwhile, the National Health Commission on Sunday said 39,501 coronavirus cases, including 35,858 asymptomatic cases, were reported in the country by the end of Saturday as mass Covid tests were carried out across China to identify new clusters of infection.
The capital Beijing has been reporting a sharp escalation of cases, which on Sunday climbed to over 4,700, amid growing protests and unease in the city over lockdowns of dozens of apartment buildings.
Candlelight vigil in Shanghai
In Shanghai, China's most populous city, residents gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road - for a candlelight vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.
As a large group of police looked on, the crowd held up blank sheets of paper - a protest symbol against censorship. Later on, they shouted, “lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!”, according to a video circulated on social media.
At another point a large group began shouting, “Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the country's leadership.
The police tried at times to break up the crowd.
Candlelight vigils for the Urumqi victims took place in universities in cities including Nanjing and Beijing.
Hundreds of students from Beijing's elite Tsinghua University took part in a protest against Covid lockdowns on Sunday, footage obtained from social media showed.
China's zero-Covid policy
China is adhering to its zero-Covid policy even while much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus.
China defends Xi's signature zero-Covid policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system.
Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy.
The next few weeks could be China's worst since the early weeks of the pandemic for the economy and the healthcare system, economic effort Mark Williams has said.
(With inputs from agencies)