Shanghai hit by protests as anger at zero-COVID and Urumqi fire spreads across China

Protests against China's heavy COVID-19 curbs have spread to more cities, including financial hub Shanghai, with a fresh wave of anger sparked by a deadly fire in the country's far west. 

The fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang region, sparked widespread public anger, with many internet users suggesting residents could not escape because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied.

The fire has fuelled a wave of civil disobedience unprecedented in mainland China since Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.

In Shanghai, China's most populous city, residents gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road — named after Urumqi — for a candlelit vigil which turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.

As a large group of police looked on, the crowd held up blank sheets of paper, a protest symbol against censorship.

Later on, they shouted, "lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!", according to social media footage.

At another point, a large group began shouting, "Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping", according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the Chinese leadership.

The police tried at times to break up the crowd.

China is battling a surge in infections that has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions in cities across the country, as the government adheres to a zero-COVID policy even while much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus.

While low by global standards, China's case numbers have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections reported by health authorities on Sunday for the previous day.

China defends Mr Xi's signature zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent the healthcare system being overwhelmed.

Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy.

Nationwide anger

The next few weeks could be China's worst since the early weeks of the pandemic for the economy and the healthcare system, Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in note last week, as efforts to contain the outbreak will require additional localised lockdowns in many cities.

In the north-western city of Lanzhou on Saturday, residents upturned temporary COVID staff tents, smashed testing booths and took to the streets in protest, posts widely shared on China's WeChat, Kuaishou and Weibo social media platform showed.

Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.

Candlelit vigils for the Urumqi victims took place in universities in cities such as Nanjing and Beijing, with students staging silent protests by holding up blank sheets of paper.

Internet users showed solidarity by posting blank white squares on their WeChat timelines or on Weibo.