Protests reported in China after lockdown fire scorches 44, including child

Violent protests have broken out in China's Urumqi region against the inhumane lockdowns imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which in some areas have spanned months. 

The Xinjing Province, including Urumqi’s four million residents, has been under lockdown for over 100 days due to China’s COVID-Zero policy. The policy was first implemented in late 2019 when the first COVID cases were discovered and for three years has failed to eradicate COVID. 

On November 23 a fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi's Jixiang Yuan district, but residents were unable to escape after lockdown authorities had locked their doors from the outside. Fire trucks were similarly prevented from getting close enough to douse the fire. 44 people were reportedly burned alive, including a three-year-old child. 

Video footage of the fire also captured the last screams of the residents as they burned. 

The fire tragedy sparked protests and riots across Urumqi. Reporter Jennifer Zeng reports that some protesters surrounded a government building and shouted “If we must die, you die together with us!” and “End the lockdown!” 

Other demonstrators were seen attacking police with poles and fences from the barricades. 

At Urumqi Road in Shanghai, residents who had gathered to mourn the victims of the fire clashed with police while shouting, “CCP step down! [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, step down!” Others chanted, “We want democracy! No dictatorship!” Local authorities reportedly arrested two busloads of people. 

Residents of the Xihangangang Gezhouba community in the city of Chengdu removed the iron fence erected by authorities and marched out of the lockdown themselves. Residents of Beijing’s Tongzhou District did the same while shouting, “End the lockdown!” 

Citizens in Guangzhou and North Beijing tore down the barriers of their quarantine camps. On Han Zheng Road in Wuhan, the origin of the virus, masses filled the streets and destroyed barricades. 

In the City of Lanzhou in the Gansou Province, residents overturned a COVID-19 testing site to protest against restrictions. 

In the city of Tianjin, residents brought bicycles to use as barriers while they blocked a major road. 

At the Beijing Film Academy, students staged a silent protest by tying what appear to be bloodied masks to the railings. 

A blank sheet of white paper has become the symbol for the protests against the CCP’s COVID restrictions and is being posted on social media to avoid the CCP’s strict censors.