Amnesty International urges the Chinese government to calm down in the face of protests in the country’s final hours

Amnesty International called on Chinese authorities this Sunday to conduct exercises to contain protests that unfolded in various parts of the country as a result of a fire in the city of Urumqi, in the western region of Xinjiang, where at least 10 people died before firefighters allegedly slow response due to restrictions on the coronavirus.

Although regional authorities have partially lifted restrictions, at a time when the country is recording daily cases not seen since the start of the pandemic, 34,000 in the past 24 hours, protests against the strict policy of containing the spread of the virus They responded with criticism of the lack of transparency of the authorities and their policy of suppressing freedom the words.

In fact, over the past few hours, social media has been filled with videos of silent protests in Beijing or Wuhansome of which Amnesty International was able to verify, as well as confirmation of the arrest of a woman in Urumqi for “spreading rumors”. Amnesty he is also working to screen “dozens of detainees” during Saturday night anti-government protests.

In Shanghai, hundreds of university students lit candles in memory of the dead and held up blank sheets of paper, a common symbol of anti-censorship protests.

The American network CNN reports that groups of students can be heard in the images chanting slogans such as “Resign, Xi Jinping! Go away, Communist Party! “I don’t want a Covid test, I want freedom!” and “I don’t want a dictatorship, I want a democracy!” they added.

“Instead of punishing people, the government should listen to their calls. Authorities should allow people to express themselves freely and protest peacefully without fear of reprisals,” said Hana Yang, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director.

“The government must also quickly, effectively and thoroughly investigate the Urumqi fire to prevent a recurrence, bring justice to the victims and their families, and show people that it is responsive to their complaints,” he added.

Protests against zero covid policy

Dozens of people protested Saturday night in central Beijing against the official “zero Covid” policy, joining a wave of mobilizations in recent days in cities across China.

Images shared on social media show several hundred people on the banks of the Liangma River in the populated area of ​​Chaoyang chanting and shouting slogans such as “no more detentions”, many of them brandishing blank sheets of paper.

This is the first major protest on the streets of the capital, although this type of protest also took place on this day at Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of the most important in the country and the president’s Chinese alma mater. Xi Jinping and other prominent historical figures.

(According to Europa Press and EFE)