'We want basic human rights': Clashes in Shanghai as protests over Covid policy grip China

In Shanghai, hundreds of protestors and police have clashed over China’s stringent Covid restrictions flared for the third day and spread to several cities. As frustration mounts over Xi’s signature zero-Covid policy nearly three years into the pandemic, a wave of disobedience has broken out in mainland China. Protests were triggered after a deadly apartment fire in the far west of the country that took place on November 27, including Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Guangzhou where people held up blank sheets of paper as an expression of protest. As many as 1000 people gathered on streets along the Chinese capital’s 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River who refused to disperse. The people of China were chanting continuous slogans “No PCR tests, we want freedom!” followed by rounds of repeated calls for “Freedom! Freedom!”

Clashes in Shanghai 

On Sunday, the Chinese police kept heavy surveillance on the Wulumuqi Road where a candlelight vigil the day before turned into protests. One of the protesters who declined to be identified has said, “We just want our basic human rights. We can’t leave our homes without getting a test. It was the accident in Xinjiang that pushed people too far,” reported in Dawn. He further said that the people here aren't violent but the police are arresting them for no reason. They (the police) tried to grab him but he managed to escape as people around him grabbed his arms so hard and pulled him back. 

On Sunday, a large crowd gathered in the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, according to videos on social media, where they also held up blank sheets of paper and chanted: “We don’t want lifelong rulers. We don’t want emperors,” a reference to Xi, who has scrapped presidential term limits.

The clashes in Shanghai in the central city of Wuhan are witnessed on social media platforms showing people voicing for freedom, trying to overturn the COVID-19-biased rules, and demanding an end to the lockdowns. The public in Lanzhou in the northwest overturned Covid staff tents and smashed testing booths as they were being put under lockdown even though no one tested positive. At Tsinghua University, Chinese protestors were seen holding a peaceful protest in which they were singing the national anthem, as per the images and videos uploaded on social media.