Protesters hold up blank sheets of paper as they protest strict anti-Covid restrictions in various cities across China and at universities.
The white papers, already seen in Hong Kong, in response to the city’s ban on using certain protest slogans, and in Moscow, in anti-war protests in Ukraine, are not only symbolic, but also a tactic to avoid arrest or violate the country’s censorship laws especially affecting social media platforms, forcing citizens to bypass the issue.
Widespread protests like this one at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University are unprecedented under President Xi Jinping, whose government has all but eliminated public displays of dissent.
