The ongoing Covid protests in major cities across China are indeed unprecedented as well as surprising
Protests against strict Covid measures in China have now spread to the big cities. Demonstrators took to streets in the capital Beijing and the financial centre Shanghai. Many held up blank pieces of paper to express their discontent and acknowledge the censorship. What is surprising is how the protests have grown in their scope in matter of days. What started as a protest against the death of 10 people who died of fire in Urumqi where rescue wasn’t allowed due to Covid protocols, quickly became an expression of anger and disapproval of the policies of the communist party. The protesters have called for President Xi Jinping to step down. Interestingly Xi awarded himself another term and there were no protests then. But at the core of the protests is people’s hardships caused by arbitrary and stringent anti covid measures adopted by the Chinese government. Millions have suffered nearly three years of mass testing, quarantines, and strict lockdowns. People suffered in silence without raising their voice or at least not making it loud enough to cross Chinese borders.
It is very unusual for people to publicly criticize Communist Party leaders in China. Any anti government activity is severely dealt with by the government. So far the government has not tried to crush the rallies though some people were arrested in Shanghai and parts of the city cordoned off. To look politically correct people gathered on the banks of a river in the capital Beijing and sang the national anthem. The protests are now spreading to universities which must set off alarm bells for the Communist government. During Saturday night's protest people shouted slogans such as "Xi Jinping, step down" and "Communist party, step down," something unheard of in China. Such demands are highly unusual in China. China has a history of suppressing protests with an iron fist - both online and offline. Such a large-scale defiance has not been witnessed since the 1989 Tiananmen movement. The protests are growing and getting bolder by the day, it is not that the Communist party is oblivious to it but maybe it wants to gauge how far it would go and then crack a whip, the only way it knows to deal with the protests and dissent. But then it could also underestimate the spark which sometimes is enough to burn a forest.
