Protests Break Out Against China’s Zero-Covid Plan

Beijing, China —(Map)

Large protests have broken out in China over the country’s “zero-Covid” program. The protests are the country’s largest since 1989. The government has tried to shut the protests down quickly, but many people are still finding clever ways to speak out.

Since the new coronavirus  first appeared in 2019, China has worked hard to completely get rid of the virus every time it appears. This “zero-Covid” plan is strongly supported by President Xi Jinping. It has led the government to lock down entire cities of 20 million people or more – sometimes for months.

Other countries have also tried working toward zero-Covid. But most found that it wasn’t possible, and decided to learn to live with the virus instead.

Still, the zero-Covid plan has protected many, many Chinese people. China has more people than any other country, but it has one of the lowest rates of coronavirus cases in the world.

But as the lockdowns have gone on, life in China has become harder. Factories and businesses are struggling as they are forced to stay closed. Many people say they ran out of food or medicine during lockdowns. Across China, people have grown more and more upset.

Last Thursday, 10 people died in a fire at a locked-down building in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Many people believe the government’s Covid rules led to those deaths. The next day, large groups of people protested in Urumqi. Over the weekend those protests spread to as many as 50 other cities around China.

There can be serious punishments for protesting in China, so many people chose tricky ways of protesting.

After 10 people died in a fire at a locked-down building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, protests spread across the country. Many protesters held up blank pieces of paper. The papers made it clear that the protesters couldn’t speak freely. Above, protesters in the capital, Beijing, on Sunday.

Many protesters held up blank pieces of paper. The papers made it clear that the protesters couldn’t speak freely. But the protesters also seemed sure that most people already knew what they were protesting about. Other protesters held up a paper with a math formula on it. The formula was created by Alexander Friedmann – and “Friedmann” sounds like “free man”.

Many protests were led by university students. The largest protest was in Shanghai, where hundreds of students gathered. The students weren’t just calling for an end to zero-Covid. They also demanded that President Xi Jinping and China’s Communist Party step down.

Police moved quickly to shut down the protests. In many places they arrested people, going through their phones to see if they had been sharing pictures or videos of the protests.

The largest protest was in Shanghai, where hundreds of students gathered. The students were also demanding that President Xi Jinping and China’s Communist Party step down. Police moved quickly to shut down the protests. Above, police breaking up the Shanghai protest on Sunday.

By Monday, most of the protests had been shut down. Many universities sent their students home early for vacation so they couldn’t protest anymore.

China’s leaders are now in a difficult position. Continuing the zero-Covid program is causing intense anger across the country. It’s also costing huge amounts of money. But the Chinese government doesn’t like to admit mistakes, and Mr. Xi may worry that changing his mind could make him look weak or wrong.

Dropping the zero-Covid program suddenly could also be dangerous. China has more Covid-19 cases now than ever before, and many older people in the country haven’t been vaccinated yet. Relaxing the rules could result in many older people dying.