New protests against anti-Covid restrictions in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, after Thursday’s fire in an apartment building that killed 10 people: videos shared on Chinese social media and taken up by Western media show hundreds of people on the streets of the metropolis confronting local officials and tearing down a barrier shouting “end the Covid lockdown”.
The protests come as the country hits new spikes in infection, despite the government’s tough ‘zero Covid’ policy. Urumqi authorities have promised to phase out the restrictions but deny that they have prevented people from fleeing the Urumqi fire.
