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China“Don’t be slaves, be citizens” – massive censorship following protest action
The 20th party congress of the leading communist party begins in Beijing on Sunday. Before that, there was a sensational protest, the traces of which Xi Jinping’s government is now trying to cover up.
Protests are generally very rare in China and are severely punished. It is all the more explosive that the protest in Beijing took place just days before the party congress of the all-powerful communist party in the country.
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President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed in Congress for a third term, making him only the second president in China’s history, along with Mao Zedong, to serve three terms.
AFP
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The Chinese Communist Party Congress will be held in Beijing on Sunday.
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Xi Jinping is likely to be re-elected for another term – and thus continue the large-scale surveillance of the people and the repression of minorities.
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A man with banners recently protested once morest this – a wave of censorship followed on social media.
A few days before the Communist Party congress, China’s censors blocked all references to a protest action in Beijing on the Internet. Videos and photos shared online networks on Thursday showed a lone protester holding two banners at a Beijing bridge. He then criticized Head of State Xi Jinping, who wants to be re-elected for a third term at the party congress, and the Chinese zero-Covid policy.
Demonstrator calls for a strike
«No corona tests, I want to earn my living. No cultural revolution, I want reforms. No lockdowns, I want freedom. No guides, I want to choose. No lies, I want dignity. I don’t want to be a slave, I want to be a citizen,” read one of the banners. The other poster called on people to go on strike and “overthrow the traitorous dictator Xi Jinping.”
Other images showed a man wearing a hard hat standing behind the banners, a smoldering fire on the bridge, and police officers frantically removing the placards. When journalists from the AFP news agency arrived on site, nothing was to be seen of the posters and their author. Public protests are extremely rare in the Chinese capital and are severely punished.
By Friday morning, Chinese censors had blocked all internet references to the protest, including the keyword “Sitong Bridge” – the name of the bridge where the protest took place. Anyone who searched for “Beijing” on the online platform Weibo only got posts from verified accounts – the posts of all other users were blocked. Even searches that only indirectly related to the protest, such as the hashtag “I saw it”, returned no results.
“I will not forget it”
Under the hashtag “I saw it”, Weibo users had exchanged hints regarding the incident until Friday night. One user wrote: “I saw it, I won’t forget it.” The security forces are on special alert ahead of the Communist Party Congress, which begins on Sunday. There are additional security checks at parcel services and on the subway, and masses of volunteers are on duty in all parts of the city to report unusual events.
(AFP/bho)
