Taipei: Chinese police have barricaded a street in Shanghai where protesters have gathered for the last two nights in anticipation of further rallies against the governments rigid zero-Covid policies, according to a media report.
Since Friday, a wave of protests has spread across multiple cities in China, prompted by the death of 10 people in a building fire in Urumqi in Xinjiang, The Guardian reported.
Much of the region had been under lockdown for more than three months, and people blamed the lockdown for the deaths.
Gatherings held to protest or to mourn the victims were held in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other major Chinese cities on Saturday and Sunday, as well as dozens of university campuses, with some police clashes and detentions in Shanghai, The Guardian reported.
Protesters demanded an end to lockdowns, while some groups decried censorship and called for democracy and an end to the rule of Xi Jinping. Most protests were peaceful. There were some clashes with police in Shanghai, and protesters in Wuhan pushed over pandemic barriers.
On Monday, authorities erected large blue barriers along Shanghai’s Middle Urumqi Road, where protesters had gathered on Saturday and Sunday. There was a heavy police presence according to people nearby and footage shared online, in an apparent effort to prevent further protests. Edward Lawrence, a BBC journalist who was allegedly detained and beaten by police on Sunday, filmed bystanders having their photos forcibly deleted by police on Monday, The Guardian reported.
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