China’s Xinjiang Province: Massive protests against crown policy

Much of Xinjiang province has been locked down by the coronavirus for more than 100 days. The atmosphere is tense. A house fire has now sparked serious protests against government measures.

Videos circulated overnight in Chinese online media showing residents of Urumqi city, capital of China’s Xinjiang region, tearing down coronavirus-related barriers on the streets and calling for an end to the lockdown. Media reports confirm that there have been protests against the Corona measures in the city. The Chinese part of Xinjiang, home to the Uyghur Muslim minority, has been isolated for more than 100 days due to the coronavirus.

Firefighters blocked by checkpoints

The protests were sparked by a fire in a skyscraper in which ten people died. Comments from local residents abounded on the Chinese Internet that the corona measures had hampered and delayed the work of firefighters. Video footage from Chinese state media showed fire engines standing outside coronavirus-related checkpoints that needed to be cleared first.

The number of corona infections in China has reached record levels in recent days. Chinese authorities recently reported about 35,000 new infections nationwide in one day. This is the highest value since the start of the pandemic almost three years ago. Compared to other countries and China’s large population of 1.4 billion people, the number of infections is relatively low.

No exit strategy from the zero Covid policy

China’s state and party leadership has adhered to a strict zero-Covid policy since the start of the pandemic. Any outbreak should be contained with contact tracing, enforced isolation in central housing, exit restrictions in cities with populations over one million, and travel bans. According to estimates, more than 400 million people in China are currently in some sort of lockdown.

Again and again there are protests in various places which are affected by the severe measures. There is no exit strategy from the zero Covid policy. In China, millions of elderly people are not sufficiently vaccinated against Corona. If the virus spreads out of control, the health care system could collapse, so China’s state and party leadership justifies the tough measures.