Mass Anti-Covid Zero Protests in Many Chinese Cities - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15256965
A fire killed dozens after firefighters were not allowed to respond and residents not allowed to escape a building under quarantine. Massive protests against the CPC and Xi in particular have erupted in many Chinese cities, hoping to end the madness of zero covid and reopen the country.

Reuters wrote:
Nov 26 (Reuters) - Public anger in China towards widening COVID-19 lockdowns across the country erupted into rare protests in China’s far western Xinjiang region and the country's capital of Beijing, as nationwide infections set another record.

Crowds took to the streets on Friday night in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, chanting "End the lockdown!" and pumping their fists in the air, after a deadly fire on Thursday triggered anger over their prolonged COVID-19 lockdown according to videos circulated on Chinese social media on Friday night.

Reuters verified that the footage was published from Urumqi, where many of its 4 million residents have been under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.

In the capital of Beijing 2,700 km (1,678 miles) away, some residents under lockdown staged small-scale protests or confronted their local officials over movement restrictions placed on them, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting them ahead of a schedule.

A crucial spark for the public anger was a fire in a high-rise building in Urumqi that killed 10 on Thursday night, whose case went viral on social media as many internet users surmised that residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hug ... 022-11-26/


Protests have spread now. The Foxconn factory was a major site of protest earlier this week.

Reuters wrote:Hundreds of workers joined protests at Foxconn's (2317.TW) flagship iPhone plant in China, with some men smashing surveillance cameras and windows, footage uploaded on social media showed.

The rare scenes of open dissent in China mark an escalation of unrest at the massive factory in Zhengzhou city that has come to symbolise a dangerous build-up in frustration with the country's ultra-severe COVID rules as well as inept handling of the situation by the world's largest contract manufacturer.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/foxc ... 022-11-23/


Reuters wrote:rotests simmered in Shanghai early on Sunday, as residents in several Chinese cities, many of them angered by a deadly fire in the country's far west, pushed back against heavy COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic.

A fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, has sparked widespread public anger as many internet users surmised that residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/sha ... 022-11-27/


Protests have continued in Shanghai. They've started calling out Xi by name and demanding his resignation.

Interesting times. I hope zero-Covid is ended soon, personally, and that Xi resigns. Doubling down on this sort of shit is bad policy and bad for the CPC and Chinese people.
#15256966
Protests are quite frequent in China, but usually focus on anger toward local/provincial level government. Beijing is seen as an ally to the protestors against local excesses and corruption. These protests are tolerated because they legitimize CPC control in China. These are different. They directly challenge national zero covid policy and the CPC in Beijing, not local government.
#15257200
Many in Hong Kong believe that

1. CCP is just using zero COVID as an excuse to grip on society, or that they just want to be different.
2. Hong Kong's similar policy aims at forcing people to vaccine on Mainland made vaccines, I.e. blatant pay-to-play profiteering.

Funny to see that the fire started up north when they seem to have curb-stomped opposition thoroughly here down south.
#15257204
I heard China is Japanese censoring crowds in the World Cup for the people not to see that nobody is wearing any masks.

(Insert Japanese porn censorship picture here)
#15257214
JohnRawls wrote:I heard China is Japanese censoring crowds in the World Cup for the people not to see that nobody is wearing any masks.


I know you are intentionally trolling but this sentence makes zero sense even for that.

And no, don't pollute Japanese porn with this shit.
#15257235
wat0n wrote:Aren't enough Chinese already vaxxed anyway?


My take is, not even Chinese themselves trust their own vax, as it's Chinese and, as Chinese, we of course know how (un)trustworthy our authorities are.
#15257236
Patrickov wrote:My take is, not even Chinese themselves trust their own vax, as it's Chinese and, as Chinese, we of course know how (un)trustworthy our authorities are.


Chile used it massively and, while not the most effective, it was good enough. I'd definitely get it over no vax at all.

So a large percentage of Chinese adults haven't gotten the vax yet?
#15257255
wat0n wrote:So a large percentage of Chinese adults haven't gotten the vax yet?


It depends. At least in Hong Kong, governmental "policies" mean that the working population is almost 100% vaxxed (those who don't risk being legitimately fired), but I doubt those who don't have to work are willing to vax unless they want social life so badly.
#15257259
Patrickov wrote:It depends. At least in Hong Kong, governmental "policies" mean that the working population is almost 100% vaxxed (those who don't risk being legitimately fired), but I doubt those who don't have to work are willing to vax unless they want social life so badly.

Chinese vaccines aren't the best but they also should work to some degree.
#15257260
wat0n wrote:What made you change your mind? Aren't enough Chinese already vaxxed anyway?


I haven't changed my mind. I've been consistent on: Xi shouldn't seek a third term, and covid zero ceased to be useful once 1) covid became endemic and 2) widespread vaccine drives have occurred.

Both have happened. A huge majority of the Chinese population has had at least two shots and a booster, myself included.

The problem is one of 'face'. Xi and his new number two, Li Qiang, have put a lot behind 'zero-Covid'. They positioned themselves as the saviors of China back in 2020/2021 when it was very well done and implemented, but going into 2022 they're kind of stuck. Xi seeking an unprecedented third term really forced him to elevate zero-Covid as a cornerstone policy achievement, so they're stuck supporting it. Li Qiang was responsible for the absolute shit show of lockdowns in Shanghai recently, so going back on zero-Covid also looks bad for him.

There's also speculation that covid wiped out a lot of trained healthcare professionals in China, and that letting Omicron go through will expose how fragile the Chinese health system is, in terms of availability of beds and workers.

They will change course, slowly. The Chinese people are fed up with the whole thing, the economy is going to shit and the state can't afford to keep it up. But they have to do it in a way that 'saves face'. :roll:
#15257261
JohnRawls wrote:I heard China is Japanese censoring crowds in the World Cup for the people not to see that nobody is wearing any masks.

(Insert Japanese porn censorship picture here)


I posted this on a different forum:

Fasces wrote:Looks like they've started doing it yesterday. Just confirmed they're doing it now in Cameroom-Serbia.

CCTV5 and Migu edit it. Douyin(TIKTOK) does not and shows crowd shots similar as on FS1 and BeIn streams.

Interesting. It really is something that must have just started because we've watched about every game and crowd shots were super common. But yeah, we had the streams side by side and it's definitely a thing as of today. Germany-Spain was fine when we watched yesterday.


This has been confirmed on Weibo and QQ. They started doing it on CCTV for the Croatia-Canada game, and it went to Migu as of the Cameroon-Serbia game. As of the games last night (England-Wales, Iran-USA), all streaming services and main channels in China actively edit the stream to remove shots of crowds. They're replaced by shots of players/coaches.

It coincides with the protests. Before the protests, China was fine with showing the crowds at the Qatar World Cup. After they started, they clearly see this as something necessary to do. :eh: :roll:
#15257263
Fasces wrote:I haven't changed my mind. I've been consistent on: Xi shouldn't seek a third term, and covid zero ceased to be useful once 1) covid became endemic and 2) widespread vaccine drives have occurred.

Both have happened. A huge majority of the Chinese population has had at least two shots and a booster, myself included.

The problem is one of 'face'. Xi and his new number two, Li Qiang, have put a lot behind 'zero-Covid'. They positioned themselves as the saviors of China back in 2020/2021 when it was very well done and implemented, but going into 2022 they're kind of stuck. Xi seeking an unprecedented third term really forced him to elevate zero-Covid as a cornerstone policy achievement, so they're stuck supporting it. Li Qiang was responsible for the absolute shit show of lockdowns in Shanghai recently, so going back on zero-Covid also looks bad for him.

There's also speculation that covid wiped out a lot of trained healthcare professionals in China, and that letting Omicron go through will expose how fragile the Chinese health system is, in terms of availability of beds and workers.

They will change course, slowly. The Chinese people are fed up with the whole thing, the economy is going to shit and the state can't afford to keep it up. But they have to do it in a way that 'saves face'. :roll:


I recall you were in favor of COVID zero. I agree, it doesn't really make sense to keep it, except to save face.

Now Xi will lose even MORE face than had he ended it earlier, which he could have done as late as the week after being confirmed for a 3rd term with little cost.
#15257308
JohnRawls wrote:Chinese vaccines aren't the best but they also should work to some degree.


You just don't know how far Chinese can go in putting potentially harmful stuff just to make the roll-out more efficient and to con more money (although to be fair, a good portion of those con artists don't know, but they also don't fucking care if they do)

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