Protests against China’s restrictive COVID-19 measures appeared to roil in several cities Saturday night, in displays of public defiance fanned by anger over a deadly fire in the western Xinjiang region.
Another protester, who gave only his family name of Xu, said there was a larger crowd of thousands of demonstrators, but that police stood in the road and let protesters pass on the sidewalk.
Anger boiled over after Urumqi city officials held a press conference about the fire in which they appeared to shift responsibility for the deaths onto the apartment tower’s residents. Late Friday, people in Urumqi marched largely peacefully in big puffy winter jackets in the cold winter night. The demonstrations, as well as public anger online, are the latest signs of building frustration with China’s intense approach to controlling COVID-19. It’s the only major country in the world that still is fighting the pandemic through mass testing and lockdowns.
In one video, which the AP could not independently verify, Urumqi's top official, Yang Fasen, told angry protesters he would open up low-risk areas of the city the following morning.
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