(VIDEO) Massive protests erupt in China against Covid-19 restrictions

(Reuters) – Rare protests have erupted in China’s western Xinjiang region, with crowds chanting at police in hazmat suits after a deadly fire fueled anger over prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns as infections surge across the country.

According to videos circulating on Chinese social media late Friday, people marched down a street, raising their fists in the air and chanting, “End of the lockdown!” They chanted. Reuters has verified that the footage was released from Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi.

Videos show people in a square singing China’s national anthem with its lyrics: “Arise, you who refuse to be slaves!” Others clamored to be released from the lockdown.

China has placed vast swathes of Xinjiang under one of the nation’s longest lockdowns, preventing many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents from leaving their homes for up to 100 days. Around 100 new cases have been reported in each of the last two days in the city.

The protests in Urumqi have come after 10 people were killed in a fire that ripped through a skyscraper on Thursday night.

In the capital, Beijing, 2.7 kilometers away, some residents under lockdown staged small-scale protests or confronted their local authorities about the movement restrictions imposed on them, with some successfully pushing to lift the measures ahead of schedule.

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