Beijing: Rare public protests opposing China's stringent Covid lockdowns intensified in the country, while coronavirus cases continue to rise sharply with close to 40,000 infections reported on Sunday. Chinese social media and Twitter have many videos of public protests, including a mass demonstration in Shanghai where people in a rare display of anger shouted slogans against the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and President Xi Jinping. Many protesters were reportedly being arrested. There are also videos of protests from various university campuses where students came out in the open to oppose the lockdowns. On Saturday, the government stepped back from enforcing lockdowns in Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, where 10 people were killed and nine others injured on Thursday in a fire at an apartment block that was under COVID lockdown. During the weekend, Urumqi witnessed a huge demonstration in which many Han Chinese nationals took part along with Uygur Muslims. Urumqi authorities on Saturday said the city would lift coronavirus restrictions ?in phases? after footage surfaced online showing rare protests against a three-month lockdown, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Sunday. The footage of protests, which was later censored, showed hundreds of residents in a public square outside a government office, chanting slogans ?serve the people? and ?end the lockdown?, and singing the national anthem. Other clips showed scuffles between residents and people in hazmat suits in the street. In Beijing, people from several compounds, under lockdowns for days, also staged protests, leading to officials withdrawing the curbs.
