Protests in China

In recent days, demonstrations have broken out across China over the government's harsh anti-covid measures. Thousands of residents demanded not only an end to Covid restrictions, but more significantly, political freedoms. The protests were triggered by a fire that killed several people in an apartment building. Video of the incident showed that lockdown measures delayed firefighters from reaching the victims, which angered the public. However, this is not the only reason for their protests - people in China have been living with the huge restrictions caused by the ‘zero-Covid’ policy for some time now. Millions of them are forbidden to leave their homes, some have already died because of lack of access to medical care, and many businesses are collapsing. So, the 'zero-Covid' policy doesn't seem to save lives, it just makes them more miserable. I'm curious to see what will come out of these demonstrations, as protests on such a large scale are very unusual in China. The last time something like this happened was in 1989, and it was violently suppressed. I think the courage of those who are protesting is admirable, since opposing the authorities can have bad consequences for them.

Source:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/01/china/china-protests-lockdown-softening-covid-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html

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Ania G

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