SHANGHAI
\nBarely a month after granting himself new powers as China\u2019s potential leader for life, Xi Jinping is facing a wave of public anger of the kind not seen for decades, sparked by his \u201czero COVID\u201d strategy that will soon enter its fourth year.
\nDemonstrators poured into the streets over the weekend in cities including Shanghai and Beijing, criticizing the policy, confronting police \u2014 and even calling for Xi to step down. Students at some universities also protested.
\nWidespread demonstrations are unprecedented since the army crushed the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing\u2019s Tiananmen Square.
\nMost protesters focused their anger on restrictions that can confine families to their homes for months and have been criticized as neither scientific nor effective. Some complained the system is failing to respond to their needs.
\nThe cries for the resignation of Xi and the end of the Communist Party that has ruled China for 73 years could be deemed sedition, which is punishable by prison.
\nIn response, police in Shanghai used pepper spray to drive away demonstrators, and dozens were detained in police sweeps and taken away in police vans and buses. China\u2019s vast internal security apparatus is also famed for identifying people it considers troublemakers and picking them up later when few are watching.
\nThe possibility of more protests is unclear. Government censors scrubbed the internet of videos and messages supporting them. And analysts say unless divisions emerge, the Communist Party should be able to contain the dissent.
\nChina\u2019s stringent measures were originally accepted for minimizing deaths while other countries suffered devastating waves of infections, but that consensus has begun to fray in recent weeks.
\nWhile the ruling party says anti-coronavirus measures should be \u201ctargeted and precise\u201d and cause the least possible disruption to people\u2019s lives, local officials are threatened with losing their jobs or other punishments if outbreaks occur.
\nThey have responded by imposing quarantines and other restrictions that protesters say exceed what the central government allows.
\nXi\u2019s unelected government doesn\u2019t seem too concerned with the hardships brought by the policy. This spring, millions of Shanghai residents were placed under a strict lockdown that resulted in food shortages, restricted access to medical care and economic pain. Nevertheless, in October, the city\u2019s party secretary, a Xi loyalist, was appointed to the Communist Party\u2019s No. 2 position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHANGHAI Barely a month after granting himself new powers as China\u2019s potential leader for life, Xi Jinping is facing a wave of public anger of the kind not seen for decades, sparked by his \u201czero COVID\u201d strategy that will soon enter its fourth year. Demonstrators poured into the streets over the weekend in cities including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n