Xinjiang loosens some restrictions after lockdown protests

During Xinjiang’s lockdown, some residents elsewhere in the city have had their doors chained physically shut, including one who spoke to The Associated Press who declined to be named for fear of retribution.

(AP)

Authorities in China’s western Xinjiang region opened up parts of the capital Urumqi after residents held demonstrations against the city’s “zero-Covid” lockdown that has lasted more than three months.

The displays of public defiance were fanned by anger over a fire in an apartment compound that had killed 10, according to the official death toll, as emergency workers took three hours to extinguish the blaze — a delay many attributed to obstacles caused by anti-virus measures.