Beijing, November 27 (EFE)
Dozens of people protested tonight in downtown Beijing against the official ‘zero covid’ policy, joining the wave of mobilizations in recent days throughout cities across China.
Images disseminated on social networks show several hundred people on the banks of the Liangma River, in the populated district of Chaoyang, who chant and shout slogans such as “no more confinements”, many of them waving blank sheets of paper.
This is the first large protest to take place in the streets of the capital, although on this day there were also acts of this type at Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of the most important in the country and the president’s ‘alma mater’ Chinese, Xi Jinping, and other prominent historical figures.
“WE DO NOT WANT PCR, WE WANT FREEDOM”
The protests began with a vigil with candles and flowers organized in memory of the victims of the fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, after which people began to march peacefully through the surrounding streets and shout “get down!” to the neighbors leaning out of the windows of the buildings.
The area, close to the financial district and the headquarters of most of the embassies present in the Chinese capital, was immediately cordoned off by the police, although so far there have been no clashes between protesters and security forces.
“We do not want PCR or masks, we want freedom” was another of the cries chanted by the protesters, who also sang “The International” and hymns in Chinese.
In the main Chinese social networks, such as Weibo – equivalent to Twitter, inaccessible in the country -, references to this protest appear under the label “Beijing Parade”, but the publications are censored and disappear quickly, as EFE was able to verify.
A FIRE, THE TRIGGER
Although the Chinese population has been fed up with the draconian anti-pandemic policy imposed by the authorities for months, the death of ten people in a fire in an apparently confined building in Urumqi on Thursday has ignited acts of rejection. in many parts of the country.
Before Beijing, vigils and protests had already been registered in the last two days in other large cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing or Wuhan, according to videos broadcast on Western social networks, while the official press remains silent on the matter.
The Chinese capital, especially shielded against outbreaks since 2020, is now experiencing its highest levels of infections. According to the latest official report, this Saturday more than 4,300 new cases were detected, of which 82% are asymptomatic, according to the health authorities.
These figures, low by international standards but intolerable for the Chinese authorities, have resulted in restrictions and confinements that affect a large part of the population of the capital, as has already happened this year in other parts of the country.
In the last week, schools and numerous shops and restaurants have been closing their doors in Beijing, a large part of the offices have switched to teleworking and a large number of urbanizations and building complexes are under confinement, with no figures available. officials of the exact number of Pekingese who cannot leave their homes at this time.
The ‘zero covid’ policy also implies the constant carrying out of PCR tests, since to access public places a negative test is required a maximum of 48 hours before, as well as admission to hospitals of positive cases and isolation in centers status of close contacts.
The Asian giant, practically isolated from the rest of the world since the beginning of 2020, has suffered numerous waves of covid outbreaks since the beginning of this year attributed to the contagious omicron variant, which has put this national zero-tolerance strategy against the coronavirus in check.
According to data from the National Health Commission, China broke its record of covid infections for the fourth consecutive day by detecting almost 40,000 new infections this Saturday, although more than 90% of them are considered asymptomatic and do not add to the official case balances. confirmed. EFE
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