No Corona Zero, No Communist Party – How Sprechchor Began – Bloomberg

On the evening of November 26, Sibyl, who works in the Chinese media industry, attended a rally in Shanghai to mourn the victims of the fire that hit Urumqi, Xinjiang, two days ago. A friend found photos of the rally on Weibo social media.

“I wanted to express my condolences,” she said, but did not reveal her surname for fear of harming herself. When we arrived close to midnight, dozens of people stood silently in a circle, holding candles and handwritten placards mourning the tragedy. A “no corona” policy to thoroughly contain the new coronavirusThere was also a sentence criticizing him for obstructing rescue efforts.

The crowd continued to grow. After more than an hour, the police tried to close off the area around the rally and asked the newcomers to turn back. But some people refused the police’s request, claiming that they had the right to participate, and that was the beginning of the chant, said Sybil, 25.

“I want my freedom. “We don’t need the CCP (Chinese Communist Party),” a cry was heard. Some people felt it was going too far, but the voltage of the rally increased. The zero-coronavirus policy has been promoted by Communist Party General Secretary (President) Xi Jinping as the leader, but measures such as lockdown (city ban) and large-scale inspections have had a great impact on people’s lives and economic activities .

Dozens of rallies in Shanghai and other parts of China soon became more than a tribute to those who died in the fire. China’s Internet is a large-scale information censorship system”Known as the Great Firewall of Fire, the backlash against the zero-coronavirus policy has spread so quickly on social media that censorship cannot keep up with it.

Everything was “like a dream,” said a local woman in her 40s who attended the rally in Shanghai on condition of anonymity. “I never thought in my life that something like this would happen in China,” he said.

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In addition to pictures and slogans, demonstrators are spreading news that the rally has turned into protests. All this was a message for Mr Xi, who had just entered an unusual third term as party leader following the party convention in October. It was a timing when the people were unable to contain their anger after the fluctuating strict measures against the coronavirus continued for about three years.

It remains to be seen whether these protests will continue. The government responded quickly to protest demonstrations, such as mobilizing large numbers of police. Health officials have suggested it is time to loosen extreme coronavirus restrictions.

In the Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, there was a clash between residents and the police on the night of November 29. The area had been closed for about a month as a measure against the coronavirus. In response, the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Commission, which oversees the security and judicial departments, issued a policy to tackle “hostile forces” and “subversive activities” and said it would not tolerate “actions illegal and criminal which disturbs the society. order.”

Chinese Communist Party to tackle ‘hostile forces’

A woman from Shanghai who described what happened last weekend as a “dream” said she would not be joining the protests again for now. The majority of Chinese have no way to resist the government’s crackdown, and even if the crackdown becomes more difficult they will not be able to leave the country, believing that the protests will die down.

But even without further protests, the spontaneous outpouring of anger and opposition to Xi-sponsored policies presents a new challenge to the Communist Party leadership.