On Monday night, members of the Chinese community in Prague gathered in Prague’s Národní trída, in a show of solidarity with the anti-government protests that have broken out across China. Many donned facemasks to protect themselves and feared to speak openly.
Last week, protests flared up across China in response to the government’s “zero Covid” policy of mass testing, quarantines and snap lockdowns that have affected more than 1.4 billion people. In what was the last straw, they prevented firefighters from getting to a fire that killed ten people in an apartment building under lockdown.
From Shanghai to Beijing, citizens have been gathering, with chants of “lift the lockdown”, and “we want freedom”, being echoed by the crowds. Some have even been calling for the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, to step down in what is the biggest show of public discontent since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Footage from the protests, show a heavy police presence, with growing violence and arrests.
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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt