Protests in China against 'zero Covid' gain strength and affect financial markets

As the Chinese economy has a huge impact on the state of the world economy, concerns about the momentum of this wave of protests could also negatively affect international economic and financial expectations this week.

In Shanghai, a city of more than 25 million people that suffered a two-month lockdown this year that caused food shortages, hundreds of people marched in silence through the center.

A witness told the news agency France Presse that protesters showed blank sheets of paper – a gesture that has become a symbol of protest against censorship in China – and white flowers.

Police arrived soon after and dispersed them, said the witness, who requested anonymity.

Police reinforcement

Several witnesses said that the Shanghai police, who declined to make statements to AFP, detained several people.

At night, strong security measures were implemented at the site. Dozens of police officers in yellow vests cordoned off the streets where the protest took place, while other officers asked people to leave the area.

By midnight (local time), the situation had already calmed down, although hundreds of agents and dozens of security forces vehicles still remained at the scene.

Videographer: “Free the people.” Protests in China call for the end of Xi Jinping's regime (The public)(I.e.

Hours earlier, a crowd had gathered near Wulumuqi Street – the Mandarin name for the city of Urumqi – with people chanting “Xi Jinping, resign, resign!” in a rare show of rejection of the Chinese president, according to a video posted on social media and geolocated by AFP.

10 dead in fire

In Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region (west), ten people died in a fire on Thursday. The incident sparked outrage on social media, as confinements hampered the rescue of victims.

In the evening, between 300 and 400 people gathered on the banks of a river in Beijing.

Some shouted: “We are all Xinjiang! Come on, people of China!”

Journalists watched the crowd sing the national anthem, while a line of police cars stood across the canal.

Protests were also organized in the city of Wuhan, in the center of the country, where the first cases of coronavirus were detected.

There, according to videos broadcast live on social media, an outraged crowd demonstrated.

Who is Chinese President Xi Jinping?

When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, some predicted he would be the Chinese Communist Party's most liberal leader because of his low profile and family background. Ten years later, the reality is very different. Poised to secure a third term and establish himself as the most powerful leader since Mao Tse Tung, Xi Jinping has demonstrated a ruthless ambition, intolerance of dissent and a desire for control that has infiltrated almost every aspect of daily life in China.

“This is not a normal life”

In Beijing earlier, hundreds of students from the prestigious Tsinghua University demonstrated on campus, according to an eyewitness and videos posted online.

“This is not a normal life, we are fed up. Our lives weren’t like this before,” exclaimed one speaker.

At Peking University, near Tsinghua University, a vigil was also held in memory of the victims of the Urumqi fire.

According to a student who participated, the protests began on Saturday night and between 100 and 200 people gathered.

“I heard them shout: 'no to Covid tests, yes to freedom'”, he said, with images and videos that corroborated the facts.

China accused of committing human rights violations

UN report accuses China of violating human rights of Uighurs – a Muslim minority – in Xinjiang. Chinese authorities deny the accusations and say the document is a “hoax” organized by Western powers.

Population fatigue

According to other recordings, there were demonstrations in Nanjing (east), as well as in Xian, Wuhan (center) and Guangzhou (south), but the AFP was unable to authenticate the images.

The protests take place amid the population's fatigue due to the government's zero tolerance strategy towards Covid.

China is the last major economy to maintain the strategy “zero covid”, with confinements, extensive quarantines and mass testing to eradicate sources of contagion as soon as they appear.

Apple warns that covid-19 in China will cause delays in deliveries of its products

A Apple alerted its customers to the occurrence of delays in receiving their products. This is because the largest iPhone in the world, in China, it was practically forced to stop production due to the emergence of Covid-19 cases in the region.

This Sunday, the China recorded 39.506 local Covid-19 infections, a record number for this country of 1,4 billion inhabitants.

BBC journalist attacked

The British television network BBC said that Chinese police attacked and detained one of its journalists who was following the protests in Shanghai for several hours.

(with AFP)

China cuts interest rates to stimulate the economy. Why does this matter to all countries?

The Central Bank of China reduced this Monday (22) an interest rate on loans to stimulate the economy, affected by the strict anti-covid policy and a drop in the real estate market. The second largest economy on the planet recorded an increase in numbers after it eased pandemic restrictions in June, but positive sentiment among consumers and businesses remains lower than usual.