Monitoring Desk
SHANGHAI/BEIJING
Mass protests against stringent anti-Covid curbs continue unabated in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and manufacturing hub Guangzhou as Chinese top security agency called for a crackdown on ‘hostile forces’.
Chinese security agency
Chinese authorities have deployed anti-riot police in all major cities where protests took place in the last 10 days.
Meanwhile, people in Guangzhou clashed with riot police on Tuesday night as frustration against the stringent COVID-19 measures boiled over.
The clashes and protests in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities over the weekend were seen as a biggest challenge of civil disobedience against President Xi Jinping since he took power a decade ago.
In one video shared on Twitter, dozens of riot police holding shields over their heads were seen advancing in formation to arrest the protesters.
According to the BBC, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, which mainly oversees internal law enforcement across China, said that it was necessary to crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces.
Social media posts said that the clashes took place on Tuesday night in Guangzhou, which is the hard hit in the latest wave of Covid infections.
Guangzhou, Home to many rural migrant workers, is an important port city north of Hong Kong in Guangdong province, where officials announced they would allow COVID patients to quarantine at home rather than send them to makeshift shelters.
In Zhengzhou, the site of a vast Foxconn factory making Apple iPhones that had been the scene of worker unrest over COVID curbs, officials announced the resumption of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms and restaurants.
Meanwhile, Chinese health officials said late on Tuesday that they respond to “urgent concerns” raised by the people and that COVID curbs and rules should be implemented more flexibly, keeping each region’s specific conditions in view.
The easing of the measures, which came as China recorded daily records in COVID cases, appeared to be an attempt to appease the frustrated population who have been protesting in the last several days.
A Beijing resident told Reuters that one of his friends, who had posted a video of protesting people calling for Xi Jinping to resign, was arrested and taken away by police last night.
