China: Crowds Angered by Lockdowns Call for President Xi to Resign

Three years after the virus emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of Covid-19 through quarantine. Its “zero COVID” strategy has suspended access to neighborhoods for weeks at a time, leaving them without food and medicine. The current protests erupted after a fire broke out Thursday and killed at least 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi, where some have been locked in their homes for four months. Locked doors may have blocked people trying to escape and stopped firefighters from gaining access to the building. Protesters are clashing with the police as the protests spread.

Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China’s powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.

Police using pepper spray drove away demonstrators in Shanghai who called for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule, but hours later people rallied again in the same spot. Police again broke up the demonstration, and a reporter saw protesters under arrest being driven away in a bus.

The protests — which began Friday and have spread to cities including the capital, Beijing, and dozens of university campuses — are the most widespread show of opposition to the ruling party in decades.

In a video of the protest in Shanghai verified by The Associated Press, chants against Xi, the most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, and the Chinese Communist Party sounded loud and clear: “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!”

Three years after the virus emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of Covid-19. Its “zero COVID” strategy has suspended access to neighborhoods for weeks at a time. Some cities carry out daily virus tests on millions of residents.

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ZeroHedge:    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zero-tolerance-chinese-lockdown-protests-intensify-rare-display-defiance