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Chinese authorities eased on some COVID-19 restrictions, including one that barred tenants in apartment complexes where infections break out from leaving their compound, on Monday after a weekend of protests, according to media reports.
Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping affirmed the “Zero Covid” policy that has sparked nationwide protests, a rare instance of coherent outburst against the authoritarian Chinese regime, The Associated Press reported. City authorities have arrested and detained an unknown number of protesters, but their decision to roll back some of China’s expansive lockdown policies appeared aimed at quelling the unrest.
The Chinese government has not commented publicly on the protests, or of a disastrous fire in Urumqi, a city in Xinjiang, that killed at least ten people after quarantine barriers and locked doors allegedly prevented tenants and firefighters from escaping, according to the AP. Analysts believe the fire ignited protests, which began on Friday and appeared to quickly diffuse to cities across the country, including Shanghai, China’s financial center, and the capital city of Beijing.
