Covid protests in China: ‘Genius’ sign flashed as people chant ‘step down Xi Jinping’

Chinese students have come up with a brilliant way to express their anger as anti-lockdown protests spread across the country.

Protests have erupted across China, with people chanting “Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party!” in an unprecedented show of defiance.

Locals took to the streets in Beijing, Shanghai and the far western Xinjiang region after a high-rise residential blaze on Friday. The fire broke out on the 15th floor and rapidly spread to the higher floors - killing ten people and injuring another nine

The protest was kicked off by angry residents demanding to know if firefighters were delayed from coming inside the apartment block due to a quarantine order enforced by the government.

But they’ve since spread across the country — to at least nine cities — and have become a lot more serious.

From the capital Beijing to financial hub Shanghai, the deaths have led to protests across China and police have descended onto the streets to keep order as tensions boil over.

A protester scuffles with police in Beijing. Picture: AFP

Protesters march along a street during a rally in Beijing. Picture: AFP

Protesters in Shanghai stood on police cars and others chanted “we don’t want PCR tests” as a vigil was held in the city for the fire victims on Saturday night.

Many protesters are holding up blank pieces of paper to indicate their anger and have called for President Xi Jinping to resign.

In extraordinary scenes, students at Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University protested by singing the national anthem.

And some students were seen holding paper with the Friedmann equations scrawled on them, which explain how the universe evolves over time.

The use of the Friedmann equations is understood to be a play on the words “free man” and was dubbed a “genius move” on social media.

Students from Tsinghua University hold up the Friedman equations.

Students from the elite school Tsinghua University protested with Friedmann equation. I have no idea what this equation means, but it does not matter.
It's the pronunciation: it's similar to "free的man" (free man)—a spectacular and creative way to express, with intelligence. pic.twitter.com/m5zomeTRPF

— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) November 27, 2022

In Wuhan, footage appeared to show raging protesters tearing down barriers as hundreds took to the streets.

There were also protests in Xi’an and Chengdu.

It’s not clear how many people have been arrested across the country.

Protesters march along a street during a rally for the victims of a deadly fire as well as a protest against China's harsh Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing. Picture: AFP

Tsinghua university right now👇🏼 city after city seeing protests small and large against Zero Covid policies and against excesses of Communist Party rule - every hour there seems to be a new one pic.twitter.com/7CbUtzNmjR

— Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) November 27, 2022

Deadly fire

Chinese internet users claim the locks used around the block allegedly hindered the fire trucks. Parked cars on the surrounding streets also reportedly delayed the rescuers, many of which were unable to start due to flat batteries from lack of use due to the lockdown period, which has extended for more than 100 days.

It reportedly took three hours for the fire brigade to extinguish the blaze, which started on the 15th floor, with tragic audio circulating that claims to share details of some of the victim’s final moments as they remained stuck inside.

Nine were injured in the blaze, and there are fears the number of deaths could skyrocket to as high as 40.

Protests are spreading in China. Picture: Supplied

A deadly apartment fire in the country’s west sparked the protests. Picture: Twitter

After yesterday’s fire in a high-rise building in Urumqi, which killed at least 10 people due to lockdown measures, people in China are now breaking down gates and other obstacles that have been keeping them locked-up for months

This video is from Chengdu pic.twitter.com/13OH4mWKki

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 26, 2022

Li Wensheng, the head of Urumqi’s Fire Rescue Detachment, confirmed to the New York Post that fire trucks had been obstructed by parked cars in the neighbourhood. He also said that fire doors in the building had been open but people were not familiar with the safety exits.

Video circulating on Chinese social media showed protesters in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, chanting “end the lockdown” and “we are human beings” with their fists in the air. It follows more than three months of zero-Covid lockdown.

Footage also shows people in a plaza singing the national anthem of China while waving a flag, particularly the line: “Rise up, those who refuse to be slaves!”

Just extraordinary scenes in Shanghai: “CCP step down, Xi Jinping step down” https://t.co/HjSKmW6RCz

— Dr. Leta Hong Fincher 洪理达 (@LetaHong) November 26, 2022

Meanwhile, others shouted they didn’t want lockdowns.

In Beijing’s district of Tiantongyuan, where some 4 million live, locals also took to the streets to tear down iron sheets and signs, amid wild applause. Here, residents have also been banned from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.

Furious protesters have taken to the streets over a deadly blaze at a tower block under lockdown. Picture: AFP

Other videos also show unrest in Shanghai, where citizens chanted “CCP, step down” and “Xi Jinping, step down” in the streets.

Eva Rammeloo, China correspondent for Dutch daily Trouw, was on the scene.

“Never seen anything like this in the decade that I report on China,” she said. “The anger seems too much to crack down on. Wonder what happens next.

“At the south end of the street are still more than a hundred people. They are yelling. ‘We are all Chinese!’

“ … First it was only a few hundred people. But they seem to be coming from far outside the city centre. More than a thousand now, I’m estimating.”

She later tweeted: “More police arrived. They split the crowd and push(ed) it back … Police getting tired now too.

“They divided the crowd in two parts and arrested a few people.”

A sign with the message: “Urumqi friends, I love you like I love this street, like I love my family members signed 2022-11-26 Shanghai”.

China has deployed an army of riot cops as protests erupt across the country. Picture: Reuters

‘Down with the party! Down with Xi Jinping!’ Free Xinjiang!’ pic.twitter.com/q5jwUQrz5Z

— Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo) November 26, 2022

Then, she heard about the government lifting some restrictions in Urumqi, citing elimination of community transmission of Covid.

“ … People had to burn to death for Urumqi to open up? No. This is the result of angry people taking to the street and protesting.”

It’s clear people in China have had enough of the lockdowns.

“I’ve lived in China for 30 years, and I’ve never seen such a brazenly open and sustained expression of rage against the PRC govt,” local resident David Moser tweeted.

“WeChat is exploding with protest videos and furious vitriol, and civil disobedience is becoming rampant.

“This is a serious test of CCP governance.”

China has long remained committed to its harsh Covid Zero strategy, many months after the rest of the world moved on and reopened after years of uncertainty. As a result, millions of Chinese citizens have faced extraordinary, draconian lockdowns over the course of the pandemic.