More anti-Covid protests in China triggered by deadly fire

A protester who gave only his family name, Zhao, said one of his friends was beaten by police and two friends were pepper sprayed.

(Ng Han Guan/AP)

Protests against China’s restrictive Covid-19 measures appeared to roil in a number of cities on Saturday night in displays of public defiance fanned by anger over a deadly fire in the western Xinjiang region.

Many protests could not be immediately confirmed, but in Shanghai, police used pepper spray to stop around 300 protesters who had gathered at Middle Urumqi Road at midnight, bringing flowers, candles and signs reading “Urumqi, November 24, those who died rest in peace” to memorialise the 10 deaths caused by a fire in an apartment building in Xinjiang’s capital city Urumqi.