Extensive protests against Covid-19 restrictions in Chinese universities

Beijing/Shanghai: The discontent of the Chinese people against the unfair implementation of the ‘Zero Covid Policy’ has become widespread. On Saturday and Sunday, there were strong protests against Corona restrictions in major universities of the country, including China’s capital Beijing and the financial centre Shanghai. On this occasion, ‘Jinping Step Down’, ‘Communist Party Step Down’, and ‘Freedom’ slogans were raised. Western analysts claimed the resentment in the country’s leading universities, against the ruling elite, including in Beijing, poses a major challenge to Xi Jinping’s regime.

The Corona epidemic is again spreading in China in the last few months. Different subtypes of the ‘Omicron’ variant of Corona have been found in China. Major outbreaks of Corona were seen in almost all areas, from Xinjiang and Tibet in the west to the capital Beijing in the east. Despite the ‘zero covid policy’ implemented by the Communist regime of China and its claims of vaccination, it has failed to bring Corona under control. Some analysts and social media posts claim that the Communist government is deliberately trying to maintain restrictions on the public.

Against this backdrop, protests in various parts of China over the past few days are noteworthy. Last week, there were violent protests at factories in Guangzhou and Zhengzhou, China’s industrial hub. Photographs of violent clashes between workers and security forces emerged during the iPhone factory protests in Zhengzhou. After that, citizens in major cities of China took to the streets and began to express their dissatisfaction by removing barriers erected as restrictions. Last week, the fire and loss of life in the city of Urumqi showed the eruption of anger among the Chinese people.

Since Saturday, Chinese citizens have taken to the streets to protest in several cities, including the Chinese capital Beijing, the financial centre of Shanghai and Nanjing. Students from three major universities of the country, including ‘Tsinghua University, one of the leading universities in China, protested against the ‘Zero Covid Policy’ and the incident in Urumqi. At this time, students expressed their displeasure against the regime by standing with blank boards, lighting candles, using mobiles and writing slogans on the walls. It is the first time since 1989 that students at Chinese universities have protested against the regime on such a large scale.

The media and Chinese analysts abroad have underlined that along with the Chinese people taking to the streets, the slogans RAISED against President Xi Jinping and the Communist regime assume much significance. At the same time, they also claimed that the outcry against the ‘Zero Covid Policy’ from all parts of the country could be the biggest challenge facing the communist regime. Meanwhile, the number of patients has continued to rise despite the tightening of Corona restrictions. Government agencies informed that more than 39 thousand patients were detected in China on Saturday.

मराठी हिंदी