Massive Unrest in China over ‘Zero Covid’ Policy

TNI Bureau: Following the latest indications of unrest in the nation—the killing of 10 people in an apartment fire—massive protests against President Xi Jinping broke out in China’s northwest Xinjiang region. The country’s stringent COVID-19 regulations were the target of the protesters’ wrath. Crowds appeared to link China’s zero COVID-19 policy to the deaths of the fire in videos shared on social media on Friday night as they screamed “End the lockdown.”

Many of Urumqi’s 4 million citizens are prohibited from leaving their homes for up to 100 days as a result of China’s heaviest curfews. The city has reported almost 200 additional cases in the past two days.

Reuters reported on Saturday that videos uploaded on Chinese social media showing rescue operations deceived many into believing that inhabitants were unable to flee because the building was partially shut down, despite the fact that it appears that they were able to descend the stairs.

The most recent demonstrations will put further pressure on Chinese President Xi Jinping because they follow widespread employee unrest at Foxconn’s flagship iPhone production that led to thousands of resignations.

As a result of the protests, which was partly incited by China’s COVID-19 restrictions, videos of the Foxconn protests in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, immediately became viral online.

More Covid protests pic.twitter.com/6zyhZhx23R

— China Uncensored (@ChinaUncensored) November 25, 2022

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections, which had placed the plant under lockdown after an outbreak in October, the factory was set to go into partial lockdown starting at midnight on Friday and lasting until Sunday.

The number of daily coronavirus cases has risen to levels not seen since last year, proving the failure of the “Zero-Covid” strategy. China reported 35,183 new Covid infections on November 25, setting a new record for the third day in a row.