Bypassing heavy surveillance, a protester lights a fire on a bridge and unfurls banners against restrictions and calling for overthrowing dictator Xi Jinping
Despite Beijing’s armor in the face of the XX Congress of the Communist Party, which begins on Sunday, a protest has managed to skip all surveillance causing a small incident this Thursday. Beyond the low seriousness of the events, which have only consisted of displaying two banners and lighting a fire. What is notable is that the protester has had time to do so without being arrested first by the Police, who have redoubled their patrols on the eve of the political conclave.
As seen in the photos and videos that have jumped to Western social networks, the protest has taken place on the Siton bridge over the third ring road, northwest of the city in the Haidian district and near the People’s University. On this overpass, the protester has managed to hang two banners. ‘You don’t need PCR tests, you need to eat. You don’t need to be locked up, but freedom. No more lies, freedom. You don’t need a Cultural Revolution, but reforms. You don’t need a leader, you need votes. And you don’t have to be a slave, but a citizen’, could be read in one of them. In the other, he called for a ‘strike to topple the dictator and thief Xi Jinping’.
In view of the smoke raised by the fire, traffic was cut off on the road and the first impression is that the protester could have immolated himself, as has happened on other occasions in China. But, in view of another shot taken from a higher angle, it seems that the Police have arrested a person who was putting him in a patrol car.
At the moment it is all speculation waiting for more information, but the regime’s internet censorship has already begun to work, erasing the search for words such as ‘hanging banners’ and even the name of the bridge where the event took place.
growing malaise
Although it is an isolated and unusual event, it is a small sample of the growing discomfort that there is in a large part of Chinese society due to the Covid 0 policy. While the rest of the world returns to normal, the regime’s restrictions are seriously damaging not not only the economy, but also the social life and mental health of many Chinese.
Considering the abundance of security cameras and police patrols that monitor Beijing, the most remarkable thing is that the protester was able to unfurl the banners and burn some objects on public roads. This protest is reminiscent of the one that took place just before the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when banners calling for “Free Tibet” appeared on lampposts on a ring road.
But then there was not as much surveillance or control mechanisms as there are now. Although the police presence had multiplied to prevent anything from spoiling the XX Congress of the Communist Party, in which Xi Jinping will remain in power, some posters and a small fire have begun to spoil the party
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