On Friday night, crowds poured into the streets of Urumqi and chanted “End the lockdown!” were raising slogans. Waving their fists in the air after the deadly fire, according to video circulating on Chinese social media.
Many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents have been under some of the country’s longest lockdowns, barring them from leaving their homes for up to 100 days.
In Beijing, 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away, some residents under lockdown staged small protests on Saturday over movement restrictions or confronted local officials, some successfully pressing them to lift the restrictions ahead of schedule.
A video shared with Reuters shows Beijing residents marching around an open-air carpark in an undisclosed part of the capital on Saturday, chanting “end the lockdown!”
The Beijing government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The next few weeks could be China’s worst since the early weeks of the pandemic for both the economy and healthcare system, Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in a note last week, as efforts to contain the outbreak put additional pressure on many. Localized lockdown will be required. cities.