Protest against China's Xi Jinping spreads after 'no to great leader' poster in Beijing
Protests against Chinese President Xi-Jinping and his zero-Covid policy has been spreading within China and across the globe.
By India Today Web Desk: Two days before Chinese President Xi Jinping was reappointed for a third term on October 16, a man strung up protest banners on a bridge in Beijing calling for Xi's removal. The banner which criticized the strict lockdowns and restrictions that have defined Xi’s zero-Covid policy has now triggered a slew of protests within China and across the globe.
PROTESTS IN CHINA
According to a report by Bloomberg, VoiceofCN -- a group of anonymous Chinese nationals who run a pro-democracy Instagram account -- said the slogans calling for Xi's removal have cropped up in at least eight cities in China. These eight cities include Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as Hong Kong.
An administrator for VoiceofCN also said the group received several submissions showing the slogans from mainland China. Interestingly, these slogans were mostly seen inside bathrooms or posted on noticeboards in schools.
Bathrooms have become a key spot to protest against the Chinese regime, since most are under the radar of the security cameras that are installed in most public spaces.
A graffiti that read "reject dictatorships" was seen in the bathroom at the China Film Archive Art Cinema in Beijing.
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PROTEST SPREADS ACROSS THE GLOBE
The slogans protesting against Xi Jinping were also seen in more than 200 universities across the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere, said a report in Bloomberg.
A handwritten sign at a college in Maine, US praised the first protest banner that was hung up on the Beijing bridge and said, "We, people of China, want to spread this message that speaks our mind in places without censorship."
An administrator of VoiceofCN told Bloomberg that most of the students who put up the banners are doing it as a way to "voice out our anger, which has been suppressed for so long by the government and its censorship machines."
CENSOR ON PROTESTS
In China, any public display of protest against Xi could lead to a lengthy prison sentence.
Since the protest banner was unfurled on the Beijing bridge, all footage and key words related to the slogans have been restricted across China's internet. Words like "Beijing protester", "Sitong bridge" have been removed from all social media platforms in China. Further, even words like "bridge", "courage" and "hero" have been restricted, according to the BBC.
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