Covid-19 protesters face censorship and surveillance

China has an army of censors both humans and bots policing its Internet, but it also exists within the Great Firewall", which bars websites like Google, Twitter and even Instagram. The Straits Times website is also inaccessible.

- Elizabeth Law China Correspondent

BEIJING - A game of cat and mouse between Chinese Internet users and censors has kicked into high gear in recent days as anger over the country's harsh Covid-19 policies burst into the open, while others have found themselves face to face with the country's surveillance apparatus.

Late last week, as videos circulated of an apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, killing 10 people, many around the country viscerally identified with the circumstances. Footage from a neighbouring block showed that rescue efforts appeared to have been hampered by Covid-19 measures and residents were prevented from escaping because the estate had been put under lockdown.

In a country where tens of thousands of housing estates are under some form of lockdown or another to cope with the spike in Covid-19 cases, the fire felt like their worst fears had come true.