The country’s authorities have initiated a crackdown on social networks used by protesters. Because of this, the demonstrators set fire to the COVID camp.
In China, unprecedented protests against the zero COVID policy have not subsided for nearly a week. There is very little information about what exactly is happening in the country, as the Chinese authorities have instituted the highest level of censorship on both media and social networks. But some news, which goes beyond the bans, still penetrates the field of international information.
What is Zero-COVID?
The main reason why the Chinese rallied was the government’s Zero-COVID policy. This model of dealing with the coronavirus was first introduced in Wuhan in 2019 during the first outbreak of the virus.
For nearly three years, because of one sick person, the government shut down districts and entire cities at any time, confining residents to their homes for months. To get to the supermarket or pharmacy, people have to stand in line for hours to be tested for COVID.
As cases rose again in China in the fall, the government launched a new round of unexpected shutdowns. When a fire broke out in a high-rise building in Urumqi in the Xinjiang region on November 24 that killed 10 people, many Chinese felt that Zero-COVID measures prevented firefighters from reaching victims in time and go to mass protests.
Government directives
Chinese authorities decided to crack down on the rallies by imposing “severe levels” of censorship. This was learned from government directives that were leaked to the Western media. The documents speak to authorities’ concerns about citizens’ growing interest in bypassing the so-called “Great Firewall of China.” As it turned out, demonstrators and other citizens this week often used VPNs to access non-Chinese news and social media apps (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) that are banned in China.
In particular, China’s Cyberspace Administration announced the maximum response to “Internet emergencies.” Administration managers were advised to take a “hands-on approach” and strengthen content management to quickly identify and process information about protests in China.
Authorities also ordered e-commerce platforms to “clean up” the presence of products and applications, as well as “harmful content” designed to bypass Internet restrictions such as VPNs and routers that bypasses firewalls.
The Chinese started burning down the COVID-camps
As a result, in the urban district of Lanzhou, protesters set fire to one of the quarantine camps. The corresponding post appeared on social networks. The user who posted the video did not specify exactly when the protesters set fire to the quarantine camp.
“The COVID-19 isolation camp burned down in Lanzhou, China… Xi Jinping recently said not to mess with the Chinese, otherwise it will end badly,” the message in the video read.
Ben Q, editor-in-chief of the El American media platform, posted a similar video of a burning quarantine camp in Lanzhou on Twitter. According to him, the building fire took place against the backdrop of large-scale protests, where local residents are demanding the easing of restrictions due to COVID-19 and the sacking of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“No one welcomes this violence, but what other options do Chinese dissidents have against the brutal communist regime?” commented an arson user.
A COVID concentration camp has been set on fire in Guangzhou City, China, as protests continue to spread across the country.
While no one welcomes this violence, what other options do Chinese dissidents have against the brutal communist regime?
pic.twitter.com/tUMC7oDaox— Ben Kew 🐶 (@ben_kew) December 1, 2022
In the video, you can also see that rescue teams are working at the scene, trying to put out the fire. Note that the Chinese authorities have not officially commented on the information about the fire in the isolation camp.
Protesters wring power?
This week, COVID restrictions were partially lifted in major cities, even where relatively high numbers of cases were still reported. For example, some communities in Beijing and elsewhere have relaxed testing and quarantine requirements, even closing some testing kiosks.
In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, passengers no longer need negative test results to board a bus or subway. In Jincheng, which is halfway between Beijing and Shanghai, people can now visit karaoke rooms but still cannot eat in restaurants.
Yesterday and today there was a clear shift in the reporting of officials and state-run media that overestimated the pandemic. Officials seem to have stopped or at least reduced the number of references to the Zero-COVID policy. For the first time, the topic of Omicron’s less virulence compared to previous strains of the virus is being discussed publicly.
This is contrary to the previous message of the authorities that the country must follow a strict zero-COVID policy.
Chinese analyst Bill Bishop believes that, since the risks are manageable, the Chinese authorities decided to take advantage of this and temporarily made concessions to the protesters.
But former state media editor Hu Xijin, who now posts pro-Communist comments on Twitter, insisted the moves showed China was “accelerating to roll back large-scale restrictions against to the coronavirus.”
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.