China protests mount over zero-Covid policy

Sporadic protests on local issues are not uncommon in China but demonstrations reported from various parts of the country, focussed on one issue are exceptionally rare.

- Sutirtho Patranobis

BEIJING: A blank sheet of white paper has become the unlikely symbol of defiance against the Chinese government's controversial anti-Covid curbs with protests spreading to cities far and wide including to capital Beijing and the financial hub of Shanghai.

The unprecedented outpouring of anger was partly sparked by a deadly fire that claimed the lives of at least 10 people allegedly locked up in a Covid-controlled high-rise in northwest China's Urumqi city on Thursday.

Since Friday people have held protests across China, an indication of simmering anger against excessive lockdown measures against Covid-19 outbreaks.

Widespread protests against the "zero Covid" policy were also reported from university campuses across China, most notably from Beijing's elite Tsinghua university and the city of Nanjing's Communication university.

At both places large numbers of students stepped out of their classes and dormitories, holding up sheets of white paper, mourning those who died in the fire and, in some cases, demanding democracy and rule of law.

Many students quietly held up blank, white sheets of paper in protest.

At the Beijing Film Academy, students displayed surgical masks with splashes of red paint on them, a photo on Twitter showed.

An unverified list comprising the names of universities circulating on Twitter said protests were reported from at least 50 campuses from across the country. The list included universities from the city of Tianjin, located close to Beijing, and Harbin university in northeast China.