Despite the biggest protests in China for decades, the government does not want to hear about popular dissatisfaction with its strict zero-Covid strategy. “What you’re talking about doesn’t reflect what really happened,” said foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in Beijing when asked by journalists about the displeasure of many citizens and the demonstrations with thousands of participants in several major cities. In his noticeably short reaction, the spokesman also expressed his conviction that the fight against the corona pandemic would be successful – “under the leadership of the Communist Party and with the support of the people”.
In order not to further increase popular anger, allegations have been made that the Chinese government is censoring live images of the World Cup in Qatar. In contrast to China, the vast majority of World Cup spectators can be seen in the stadiums without mouth and nose covers. According to the ADAC, travelers entering Qatar do not currently have to present proof of a Covid 19 vaccination and proof of a negative corona test is currently not required either. Bill Birtles, the East Asia correspondent for the Australian broadcaster ABC, meanwhile played two live images of the same football broadcast at the same time and documented them on cellphone video. From his perspective, the left screen shows the Chinese channel “CCTV 5”, the right screen the Australian public service channel “SBS”.
As Birtles writes in his post, “so I thought it was nonsense for China’s state broadcaster to censor footage of fans at the World Cup because of the Corona protests in their own country. But it’s true. Here are live feeds from SBS
These are the largest demonstrations since the democracy movement in China in 1989, which the military brutally suppressed at the time. There were protest marches over the weekend in the capital Beijing and other cities with over a million inhabitants such as Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, Xi’an and Guangzhou. They were directed against the strict measures of China’s zero-Covid policy, such as repeated lockdowns, mass corona tests and forced quarantine. China was in virtual news blackout. Social media were full of video recordings, which were quickly deleted by the censors. As a symbol of resistance and protest against censorship, many demonstrators held up blank white sheets. “Unlock the lockdown” and “We don’t want PCR tests, we want freedom” were shouted.
Watch the video: Biggest protests in decades: China’s citizens demonstrate against the Corona measures.
Some demonstrators dared to ask the president directly to resign or shouted slogans like “No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!”. Others resorted to irony in order not to make themselves vulnerable. A crowd chanted on the Liangma River in Beijing on Sunday evening: “I want to be tested for Covid, I want to scan my QR code”. Similar phrases could also be found on Weibo. Quotations from Xi, taken out of context, also circulated on the Internet as if the head of state were supporting the protests: “Now the Chinese people are organizing themselves and are not being trifled with,” read one of these sentences in a video clip.
Netizens also shared Qatar World Cup memes using images of players without face masks to mock China’s pandemic policies. In a video that has since been censored, football fans can be seen cheering, accompanied by the commands “Put on your masks!” or “Let yourself be tested!”.
International social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram are blocked by China’s censorship, the “great electronic wall”. However, technically experienced Chinese can bypass the firewall with special software via so-called Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and thus post information about the protests. Some demonstrations were broadcast live across national borders. Chinese students abroad also organized protests around the world.
