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Demonstrations have broken out across Chinese cities and university campuses, triggered by widespread anger at stringent Covid restrictions imposed for almost three years and outrage over a deadly fire widely blamed on lockdowns.
In an unusually bold act showing people’s desperation, a crowd in Shanghai called for the removal of the Communist party and Xi Jinping in a standoff with police on Saturday, according to videos circulated on Twitter. Chinese usually refrain from criticising the party and its leaders in public for fear of reprisals.
“Communist party! Step down! Xi Jinping! Step down!” they chanted.
In other footage, people chanted, “No PCR tests, we want freedom!”, followed by rounds of repeated calls for “Freedom! Freedom!”. The slogan echoed the call of a lone protester in Beijing in October.
According to photos posted on Chinese social media, a note stuck to a lamppost on Shanghai’s upmarket Urumqi road middle section says: “To our friends in Urumqi: I love you like I love this road, like I love my family. November 26th, 22.”
Other photos show a candlelit vigil in front of a luxury apartment compound on the same street, among a sea of white candles, with a cardboard sign reading: “Urumqi November 24. May those who died rest in peace.”
The Guardian has verified that the footage and photos were taken in Shanghai.
The protests came after a demonstration erupted on Friday in Urumqi, the regional capital of the far west Xinjiang region, where at least 10 people died and nine others were injured a day earlier in a fire in a residential building. Many believe they died because they were unable to escape due to Covid restrictions – a claim the local government denied.
Photos and videos circulated on Chinese social media seen by the Guardian were quickly removed by internet censors, but many continued to circulate on Twitter, which is blocked in China.
