‘Xi Jinping, step down’: Anti-lockdown protests in China spread to more cities

Frustrations towards Covid restrictions boil over, with rare scenes of crowds chanting against the Chinese president and Communist Party in Shanghai

Protesters in China are calling for President Xi Jinping to step down in rare shows of dissent as a result the government’s zero-Covid policies.

Around 300 protesters gathered at Middle Urumqi road in Shanghai on Saturday to pay tribute to the victims of a major apartment block fire that killed 10 people in Urumqi. Some social media accounts have suggested residents couldn’t leave their homes during the fire because of Covid-19 control measures.

The Shanghai protesters carried flowers and candles and sang the national anthem. But others expressed rare criticism directed towards the government, yelling: “Xi Jinping, step down, Communist Party, step down”, “unlock Xinjiang, unlock China”, “[we] do not want PCR [tests], [we] want freedom” and “press freedom”, according to the account of one demonstrator named Zhao.