How Covid revolt swept across China: Hundreds of brave protesters demand Communist leader steps down over draconian lockdowns in biggest uprising since Tiananmen Square, writes IAN BIRRELL•

• Protests began after ten people, including young children, died in apartment fire
• Homes were trapped with families enduring their third month of Covid lockdown
• Deaths ignited protests in eight other Chinese cities e.g. Beijing and Shanghai
• Now it's sparked most daring explosion of defiance against the regime for years

By IAN BIRREL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 22:15, 27 November 2022 | UPDATED: 23:45, 27 November 2022

The blaze broke out in a residential high-rise building in Urumqi, a city in western China infamous for the repression of Uighur citizens and where the temperatures have dropped below freezing after dark.

The fire is thought to have begun with a faulty electric socket in a bedroom on the 15th floor, before spreading rapidly to engulf the flats on higher levels in a hell of burning flames, thick smoke and toxic fumes.

Shockingly, the homes were filled with families enduring their third month of Covid lockdown, who found themselves trapped in a blazing inferno because of the brutal health restrictions of a dictatorial regime.

Videos on social media show arcs of water from fire trucks falling short of the building as rescue teams were stymied by pandemic control barriers and parked cars thought to have been abandoned by drivers forced into quarantine.

Recordings play the screams from dying people trapped in homes and desperate pleas for help from families facing suffocation. They detail the anguish of neighbours unable to help, efforts to shove aside cars impeding fire crews and even the crude wires reportedly wrapped around door handles to stop people leaving residences.


The protests expose the growing mood of frustration after almost three years of restrictions in the only major country in the world still fighting Covid using the outdated weapons of mass lockdowns and regular testing

Ten people, including young children, were confirmed to have died, with nine others injured – although rumours are swirling around Chinese social media that the true number of fatalities might be more than four times higher.

Now these horrific deaths have ignited extraordinary protests in at least eight other Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, in the most daring explosion of defiance against the repressive Communist regime for many years.

It is highly unusual for people to publicly vent anger at Communist Party leaders in China, where direct government criticism can result in harsh penalties, including years in prison.

But the demonstrators are challenging president Xi Jinping's pig-headed determination to continue imposing strict 'Zero Covid' lockdown policies on the country that gave birth to the pandemic.


The fire is thought to have begun with a faulty electric socket in a bedroom on the 15th floor, before spreading rapidly to engulf the flats on higher levels in a hell of burning flames, thick smoke and toxic fumes

The protests expose the growing mood of frustration after almost three years of restrictions in the only major country in the world still fighting Covid using the outdated weapons of mass lockdowns and regular testing.

Some bold protesters are even calling for the removal of their all-powerful president only a month after Xi won his third term as party head, which secured his status as China's most dominant leader since Chairman Mao.

In the financial hub of Shanghai, police responded with beatings and pepper spray after young activists chanted slogans such as 'Xi Jinping, step down, Communist Party, step down' alongside loud demands to 'Unlock Xinjiang, unlock China'.

The big question, as outrage grows on social media and protests flare up reportedly on at least 50 university campuses, is whether mounting frustration over Xi's tough Covid policies might now spark a serious challenge to his ultra-autocratic regime.

Certainly, they present significant rebuke to an egotistical leader who has hailed his approach to Covid as proof of the superiority of China's system of government after the initial bungles and cover-up that unleashed a pandemic on the planet.


Shockingly, the homes were filled with families enduring their third month of Covid lockdown, who found themselves trapped in a blazing inferno because of the brutal health restrictions of a dictatorial regime

The protests flared up first in Urumqi, where many of the four million residents have been unable to leave their homes since early August. Citizens wearing face masks confronted officials, pushed back a barrier protected by police and shouted slogans demanding an end to lockdowns.

'Everyone thinks that Chinese people are afraid to come out and protest, that they don't have any courage,' said one protester.

'I also thought this way. But then when I went there, I found that the environment was such that everyone was very brave.'

The authorities hastily apologised, promised an investigation and pledged to soften local restrictions, although they denied their actions led to the inferno deaths. One fire service official even appeared to blame residents for a failure to 'rescue themselves'.

More protests broke out the next day in cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanjing and Xi'an, while state censors frantically pursued their 'whack a mole' strategy of trying to remove a surge of internet posts criticising lockdown policies and praising the protesters.

About 2,000 students gathered at Beijing's Tsinghua University – Xi's alma mater – to demand immediate easing of anti-virus controls and the introduction of free speech, according to social media posts. They chanted for 'democracy and rule of law'.

In Shanghai, protesters clutched candles to honour the fire victims. One participant said they sang the national anthem and even felt liberated to break the taboo on talking about the 1989 slaughter of Tiananmen Square protesters.

Despite police trying to break up the gathering with pepper spray, beatings and bundling protesters into their vans, hundreds returned to the street yesterday. 'I know what I'm doing is very dangerous, but it's my duty,' one said.


Despite police trying to break up the gathering with pepper spray, beatings and bundling protesters into their vans, hundreds returned to the street yesterday. 'I know what I'm doing is very dangerous, but it's my duty,' one said.


Some held blank sheets of paper to send a mute message of defiance to the authorities – a gesture to mimic the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which were crushed by Xi's savage stooges. Others held white flowers, a sign of mourning in Chinese culture.

Some held blank sheets of paper to send a mute message of defiance to the authorities – a gesture to mimic the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which were crushed by Xi's savage stooges. Others held white flowers, a sign of mourning in Chinese culture.

In Wuhan, the central city where the pandemic originated in late 2019, residents in at least two neighbourhoods joined together in the streets, some forcing their way past control barriers erected to enforce lockdowns.

Amnesty International appealed to Beijing to allow peaceful protest.

'The tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China,' said Hana Young, deputy regional director of the human rights group. 'These unprecedented protests show that people are at the end of their tolerance for excessive Covid-19 restrictions.' These events are arguably the most significant challenge to the Communist Party leaders since the Tiananmen protests. Certainly they present a major headache for the control freak Xi in terms of their national scope and full-frontal attack on his signature Zero-Covid policy.

China, home to almost a fifth of the world's population, claims to have seen just over 5,000 Covid fatalities – although the data on excess deaths indicates this is another deception by a dictatorship with a dark record of misinformation in the pandemic.

The tide of anger on social media is reminiscent of the pandemic's early days, when the death of a whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan – reprimanded by police for trying to warn his colleagues to take precautions – led to deep fury over the state's cover-up.

Since then Beijing has taken rigid control of the response to hide key data on the origins and early cases in Wuhan from outside investigators, while imposing strict lockdowns, digital enforcement and regular mass testing to restrain outbreaks.


Now cases are at record levels. Five days ago, China reported nearly 30,000 new locally transmitted Covid infections, with outbreaks in every region. This figure had spiralled to 40,000 by yesterday

As normal life resumed in the rest of the world, the arrogant Xi – alarmed by the comparatively low vaccination rates among elderly people and efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines – refused to alter the policies that became so identified with his rule.

Now cases are at record levels. Five days ago, China reported nearly 30,000 new locally transmitted Covid infections, with outbreaks in every region. This figure had spiralled to 40,000 by yesterday.

'The Urumqi fire got everyone in the country upset,' said Sean Li, a resident in a Beijing community that managed to thwart lockdown plans this weekend after appealing to local officials.

'That tragedy could have happened to any of us.'

These protests may flare up or flicker out – but Xi's record indicates he is unlikely to tolerate dissent, especially just five weeks after he put himself on a pedestal beside Mao, the founder of the Communist state.

Days ahead of the party congress when Xi accepted his latest term in power, a lone protester pierced the rings of security in Beijing to drape banners on a bridge that called for the end to the Communist dictatorship.

'We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not a Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves,' read one banner, while a second demanded Xi's removal.

The courageous activist electrified the internet but was rapidly detained. Now he is being belatedly joined by some of his fellow citizens, sharing his desire for freedom from lockdowns at the very least, after sad deaths in a fire sparked burning resentment across China.

Source

This is the most daring explosion of defiance against the regime in years.

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'China Joe' has benefitted financially from the communist Chinese—this we already know. His son Hunter was bribed with millions of dollars in 'investments' from the Chicom military and his dad, 'the big guy,' got his 10 percent. It's no wonder that the Chicoms helped interfere in our presidential election to get Biden elected. The Chicoms did not want Trump to serve a second term because he had stood up to them.

Now it's all becoming more clear and out in the open. Major corporations are pro-communist China. Apple blocked uploads on the Chinese protestors' phones to aid the Chi-com rulers. Apple is also threatening to block access to a Twitter download, thus harming Musk's company that plans on returning free speech to conservatives. Apple does not believe in free speech and is a traitor to America.

We've already known that Hollywood and various sports entities are pro-communist China. Hollywood bends over backward to please Chinese censors so that their movies can gain access to the population there, which is four times the size of the United States. Hollywood cares about money, not free speech. Likewise, the NBA has praised an oppressive, totalitarian government in order to maintain access to money and fans in China.

Anthony Fauci's job included protecting China and its bio-military industrial complex. He gave millions in American taxpayer money to a Chinese communist bioweapons lab to develop Covid-19 and then he has tried to deny it and cover it up. The vastly-overpaid Fauci is an arrogant liar. He also sent an operative to China who praised their handling of the virus by means of lockdowns and masks. Fauci quickly recommended the approach used by the Chinese communist rulers and we in America got locked down and masked up. Fauci's decision was based on no science whatsoever. He's a sadistic sociopathic control freak and he greatly admires the control and power that the communist Chinese rulers enjoy. Fauci wants such absolute control for America because he's anti-freedom and a traitor. Fauci needs to be introduced to a length of rope.

WEF president Klaus Schwab, another sociopathic control freak, has profusely praised the communists in China and recommends the entire world adopt a similar system. His plans no doubt include a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as well as a Chinese-style social credit system of absolute control. Nobody in America voted for Schwab, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or George Soros, but these globalists command fantastic amounts of money, so they influence cultural behaviour and buy out our political system. They're all in love with the communist system in China.

We've already seen how the Democrats are in league with the Chinese communist party. They do their bidding in Congress. The jackass Eric Swalwell bragged about sleeping with a Chinese communist spy, Christine Fang, also known as 'fang fang.' Nothing happened to him. Swalwell is an anti-American ignoramus who once threatened to nuke gun owners. Despite getting compromised by a Chinese spy, he continued to serve on the House Intelligence Committee. The Democrats applaud and even reward those within their party who betray America. After all, the Democrats desire a uni-party that enjoys permanent and absolute control—just like the Chi-coms.

Of course, the corporate mainstream media are in the business of under-reporting crimes by the Chi-coms. The Chinese communists are free to set up police stations across the USA. They are allowed to spy at universities and in Congress, steal corporate secrets, and bribe our politicians. Journalists on the left love communism and so the Chi-coms are always given a pass.

Now we know why Kissinger urged Nixon to open up China. Kissinger wanted a Chinese system for the world, but it needed to be built up first. He wanted China to become a high-tech haven and use that technology to take their tyranny to an advanced level. Chinese citizens may be enjoying an elevated standard of living since Mao, but they have NO say over their own government. They have neither freedom of speech nor freedom from medical tyranny. They can get locked down like cattle and even get trapped and left to burn to death. They are constantly spied upon and their social credit system means the government can seize money by means of fees and higher taxes and limit travel for those deemed 'anti-social.' This is what the people at Davos want for us all.

I do not want America to become communist China. If the central bankers who own the Federal Reserve roll out a CBDC, it would be crossing a line drawn in the sand. The globalist rulers want total control and outright slavery for the masses and that could spark a civil war. Americans should not go meekly into that dark goodnight.

— Ben Garrison

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