Chinese police were on their toes in the streets of Beijing on Monday, November 28, to prevent new demonstrations after the historic ones of the day before, along the banks of the Liangmahe River which crosses the embassy district. In the evening, an impressive security device had been mobilized in the capital to dissuade the most reckless. A rally, planned near the bridge where a man had unfurled banners attacking Xi Jinping last month, was thus discouraged. Contacted, students claimed to remain mobilized, but significant reinforcements of the police, clearly visible around the universities, slowed them down. Attempts to protest have taken place in a few other major Chinese cities, a sign that the momentum of the weekend has not died down, despite the enormous risks faced in the face of such a repressive regime – several people have still been arrested in Shanghai the day after this chaotic weekend.
A few hundred meters from the French and American embassies, hundreds of young demonstrators gathered on Sunday to call for the lifting of restrictions linked to the draconian “zero Covid” policy. An unprecedented protest movement since that of Tiananmen Square in 1989. As in Hong Kong, during the 2019 pro-democracy uprising, young demonstrators used the encrypted Telegram network to define meeting places. “We chose this place so that foreign countries could see what is happening in China, says one of the young participants. We said to ourselves that they would not dare to shoot at us here in front of embassies.”
Residents of other major cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu also took to the streets in their hundreds to express their anger. “You should contribute to the well-being of your country, instead of standing there repelling your own people, launched a young protester on Saturday evening to the police present en masse in Shanghai. You have work, you have food and money. What about us? What’s become of us? It’s been three years!” But quickly, some dare to make political demands: videos circulating on social media show Shanghai residents shouting: “Xi Jinping resign”, while in Chengdu, we chant: “No emperor, no reign for life” , in reference to the 2018 amendment to the Constitution, which allows Xi Jinping to remain president for life if he wishes.
“What future for us?”
In several cities, young people hold up white sheets, symbols of censorship. In Beijing, the campuses of Beida and Tsinghua, the most prestigious universities in the country, already at the origin of the student spring of June 1989, have joined the movements. “No to tests, no to confinements”, “we can’t take it anymore”, shouts a student on videos posted on social networks. In these temples of Chinese-style elitism, the communist regime is being shaken up: “Democracy and the rule of law!; freedom of expression!” shouts the crowd.
“It is no longer possible, complains a student from Beida reached by telephone. We have been living in this situation for three years, three years of taking online courses. Entering Beida was my life’s dream. but today it’s just a nightmare. Unemployment is soaring, some of my older friends have had to accept very low wages when they leave school while the cost of living in Beijing is very high. What future? for us?” she laments. Nearly 1 in 5 Chinese between the ages of 16 and 25 is unemployed in large cities.
“These protests are the greatest act of resistance in China since 1989, notes Wu Qiang, a former professor at Tsinghua, who lived through the pro-democracy movement thirty-three years ago. But this time, the demands are more concrete than the only defense of abstract values as at the time. The Tiananmen protests were mainly led by students in Beijing, whereas the current movements are decentralized and involve different social classes, including migrant workers, students, people of the class average and even residents of Xinjiang, whose human rights have been ignored by the regime for the past five years.” In Beijing, it is not uncommon to come across a hairdresser converted into a home delivery person or traders forced to lower the curtain and return to live in their native province: all say they are victims of the “zero Covid” policy.
On November 11, the Chinese government did unveil a series of relaxations, including a reduction in quarantines from ten to eight days for travelers from abroad. The government had also promised less severe confinements and the end of isolation centers with more than Spartan comfort. And the images of a Xi Jinping without a mask at the G20 summit had raised hopes of a return to a more normal life, but a new wave with more contagious variants has come to shower hopes. After months of constraints and in the absence of any prospects, people can no longer stand the queues for the compulsory tests every twenty-four or forty-eight hours, the confinements which can be decided at any time, the sendings to centers isolation, the impossibility of leaving the country or even his city…
“All this government wants is to keep us locked down!”
“This hardening of the “zero Covid” policy highlights the growing pressure on local officials to contain cases, assures Alfred Wu, professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore. , they will be removed from their positions. This explains the overzealousness with which the leaders are dealing with current challenges. This will not change, unless Xi decides otherwise.”
But for now, the Red Emperor says nothing. The day after the demonstrations, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zhao Lijian hammered that “under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and with the support of the Chinese people, our fight against Covid-19 will be a success”. Understand: nothing will change. This Tuesday, November 29, China announced that it would accelerate the vaccination campaign for the elderly, but nothing more. In the official mainstream media, not a word about the protests, the images of which have been censored on all social networks in the country. The national channel CCTV opened its newspaper on Monday on the Chinese space mission Shenzhou 15, before listing as every evening the number of victims of Covid in the United States.
Confined to Beijing in his apartment, Gary Wang, a 42-year-old entrepreneur, is perplexed by the World Cup matches he follows on television. “It’s still incredible to see these stadiums full, people without masks. It feels like living in a parallel world. Are we more fragile? Is the Omicron variant more dangerous in China than elsewhere?, he asks ironically. All this government wants is to keep us locked up!”
“People are fed up, gets angry a young Beijinger who has been stuck at home for several days due to the confinement of her building. If I were not locked up, I would have gone to demonstrate too. Seeing all these young people revolting gives me hope . I hope this time the government got the message.” A very optimistic wish.