Rare protests in major Chinese cities amid fury over Covid restrictions

Citizens in a handful of Chinese cities took to the streets in a rare show of defiance to protest against the country’s strict Covid-19 controls following the death of 10 people in a fire at an apartment block in Xinjiang last week.

In Beijing several hundred people took to the streets in a protest that continued until after 3am on Monday. Other demonstrations took place in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu over the weekend, according to media reports and social media posts. Some protesters were reportedly detained.

Some questioned whether the months-long Covid lockdown in Xinjiang had been a factor in the deaths of 10 people in Urumqi, the capital of the far-western region, although the authorities insist they did not hamper rescue efforts at the residential block.