The past two days have been filled with anger and unrest in the Xinjiang capital city Urumqi and beyond.
The direct trigger for the unrest, which led to large crowds gathering and chanting in the city streets, is the fire that broke out in a residential building on Thursday night.
Video reportedly showing citizens in #Xinjiang’s Urumqi protesting in front of a government building. Some could be heard chanting “let’s die together.” The authenticity of the video can’t be independently verified atm, but there have been several other videos … https://t.co/Dgw2P5AA1h
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) November 25, 2022
On Chinese social media, the fire, which left ten people dead, caused anger among people who connected the deadly inferno to the ongoing stringent Covid measures in Urumqi, where some residents have been in (partial) lockdown for over a hundred days.
At a press conference that was held late on Friday night, local officials refuted ongoing rumors that residents had not been allowed to leave the building and also stated that any claims of doors being sealed were untrue.
The press conference, which immediately went viral on Weibo, did not subdue the online anger and instead only seemed to trigger more waves of anger, especially because one official mentioned the residents’ inability to “rescue themselves” instead of taking accountability for the devastating fire. (Urumqi Mayor Mamtimin Hadir did issue an apology to ‘all the people of Urumqi’ for the incident #乌鲁木齐市长就10死火灾事故致歉#).
A hashtag related to the Friday night press conference (#乌鲁木齐1124火灾事故发布会#) received over 1,8 billion views on Weibo.
Around the same time, on Friday night, videos and images started circulating on social media relating to protests breaking out in Urumqi. Although the topic was censored and not officially reported by Chinese media, it still turned out to be a sleepless night for many Chinese social media users who were glued to their screens, searching for the latest information.
“Knowing that people in Urumqi are out in the street marching and chanting, I cannot peacefully sleep tonight,” some wrote, with others writing that people in the streets had carried a national flag and sung the national anthem. “I hope all these warriors are safe,” some said.
Do You Hear the People Sing, one of the most recognizable songs of the Les Misérables musical, also circulated on Chinese social media as a protest song in light of all the built-up frustrations over Covid policies and the Urumqi fire. Various people posted the text: “Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men?”
Do You Hear the People Sing, one of the most recognizable songs of Les Miserables musical is once again surfacing on Chinese social media as a protest song in light of built up frustrations over Covid policies and the recent Urumqi fire. pic.twitter.com/FEslt9dWqK
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 25, 2022
On Saturday morning, November 26, the local government suddenly announced that the city has “basically cleared Covid-19 cases at the community level,” and that the city will “restore order to the lives of residents in low-risk areas in a phased manner.” Residents in low-risk areas can leave their homes while maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, and not gathering together.
On November 25, Urumqi reported a total of 116 new cases in the past 24 hours. At the time of writing, Urumqi still has 934 areas that are designated as “high-risk.”
The hashtag “Urumqi Basically Reaches Zero Covid at Community Level” (#乌鲁木齐社会面基本清零#) received 1,7 billion (!) views within hours. Another related hashtag, “Urumqi In Phases Restores Orderly Life for Residents in Low-Risk Areas” (#乌鲁木齐分阶段恢复低风险区居民生活秩序#) received over 420 million clicks.
The comments just kept flooding Weibo, where many expressed surprise and exasperation about the Covid situation seemingly changing overnight.
“Thanks to the people who took to the streets yesterday,” one commenter wrote.
“They say it’s cleared, so it is cleared. The party secretary’s word will do! The building was on fire, and now the internet is on fire,” one Weibo blogger wrote on Saturday morning.
“Hasn’t it been raining all the time? Then why do you suddenly say it’s sunny?”
Meanwhile, photos and comments from Urumqi-based netizens confirmed that some areas had indeed lifted local lockdowns and that people were roaming the streets.
Some people expressed worry that by slowly lifting the lockdowns, the anger would fade and the momentum for protest and social change would vanish: “Every time a big transformation is taking place, there will always be people settling for just a little profit.”
“We want freedom, we want democracy,” one Shanghai-based commenter wrote.
“Last night’s protests cleared the Covid,” one person concluded: “It’s like magic.”
Read more about the “11.24” unrest in China here.
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By Manya Koetse , with contributions by Miranda Barnes
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