Western politicians condemn escalation in China and are concerned that Mexico’s president is marching through the capital with thousands of supporters

Anger over China’s strict zero-Covid policy had erupted in nationwide protests in recent days. The cause was a house fire that killed ten people in the city of Urumqi in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang. The accident initially sparked protests in Urumqi. On the internet, many users blamed the strict corona measures for the slow rescue of residents.

Over the weekend, protests spread to several major cities in the country, including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan. Protesters also gathered at several universities. They demand an end to the corona lockdowns, but also more political freedoms. There has not been a comparable wave of protests since the suppression of pro-democracy rallies in 1989.

Several Western voices are now expressing concern about developments in China. Some comments in the overview.

UN

The UN called on Chinese authorities to respond to the protests “in accordance with international human rights”. “No one should be arbitrarily arrested for expressing their views peacefully,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office.

Germany

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Chinese leaders to respect freedom of expression. Chinese authorities are responding to the wave of protests in several cities with heavy police presence and online censorship.

“Freedom of expression is an important asset,” Steinmeier told DW. He therefore hopes that the state authorities in China will respect this right. Given the strict corona restrictions in China, he understands “that people are showing their impatience on the street”.

United States

The White House said President Biden was “carefully” monitoring the unrest in China. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “People should be able to have freedom of assembly and peaceful protest.” The US State Department said: “We have long said that everyone has the right to protest peacefully here in the United States and around the world. This includes the People’s Republic of China.”

Great Britain

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned that China is a “systemic challenge” to the UK’s “values ​​and interests”. This challenge is compounded by China’s growing authoritarianism. London needs to “change its attitude towards China,” Sunak said.

Many security forces in Beijing and Shanghai

A large number of security forces took to the streets in Beijing and Shanghai on Monday after calls for renewed protests were made on the internet. A planned meeting in the capital failed because dozens of police officers with vehicles blocked an intersection near the meeting point.

In Shanghai, barriers along the sidewalks should also prevent citizens from starting new protests. An AFP journalist saw three people arrested by the police.

The authorities also apparently deleted all posts about the protests on Chinese online networks. Search terms for central locations of the protests have been removed from the online platform Weibo. Videos from the online service WeChat also disappeared.

In the course of the protests, journalists covering the demonstrations were also apparently targeted by the authorities. The European Broadcasting Union EBU spoke on Monday about “unacceptable” harassment of journalists in China.

According to the British broadcaster BBC, one of its reporters was arrested in Shanghai on Sunday and beaten and kicked in custody. He was later released. An RTS journalist was also briefly detained, RTS reports on Sunday.

China is the last major economy to implement an ultra-strict zero-Covid policy. Even small corona outbreaks can lead to lockdowns or even entire cities. On Monday, the authorities in Urumqi relaxed at least some corona measures.

Beijing, meanwhile, defended its pandemic policy. The fight against Covid-19 will be “successful,” said a spokesman for the State Department. He accused “forces with ulterior motives” of having linked the fire in Urumqi to the corona measures. (con/sda/afp)