China COVID protests mark ‘biggest act of resistance’ in decades

HONG KONG — Protests over China’s “zero COVID” strategy spread in major cities over the weekend, with some demonstrators going so far as to urge President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down — an act of defiance rarely seen on the mainland since the much larger and more intense Tiananmen Square movement of 1989.

The demonstrations were triggered by a fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, which killed 10 people. The remote western region had been under a strict coronavirus lockdown for more than 100 days, and many believe the restrictions delayed the emergency response, though local authorities deny this.