- Yvette Tan
- BBC News
image source,Twitter
Two banners were hung on the overpass at the protest site at the Sitong Bridge in Beijing.
On the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a rare and dramatic protest in Beijing, the Chinese capital, criticizing party leader Xi Jinping, sparked online searches for the protesters’ identities, and some netizens paid their respects to the protesters.
On Thursday (13th), a protester boarded the Sitong Bridge in Beijing’s Haidian District and hung two large banners, calling for an end to China’s draconian “zero” epidemic prevention policy and Xi Jinping’s resignation.
Despite the reticence of Chinese state media, photos and videos of the protests have circulated widely online, prompting censors to quickly launch an inventory of social media platforms and WeChat, used by most Chinese.
The protests on Thursday came on the eve of the historic 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, where Xi Jinping will start his third term and consolidate his grip on power.
Protesters also set what appeared to be car tires on fire, and he can be heard chanting slogans into a loudspeaker.
One person in connection with the protest was arrested, the report said. Photos showed police surrounding the man, who was wearing a yellow hard hat and orange clothes.
The BBC has asked local police for comment.
Many people on the internet praised the protester’s actions, calling him a “hero” and the “new tank man” – the unnamed Chinese man who stood alone in front of a tank during the 1989 Tiananmen protests in Beijing.
image source,Twitter
The man in orange overalls is believed to be a protester.
Netizens tried to identify the protesters, focusing on a physics researcher from a village in Heilongjiang province. The BBC checked with the village officials and confirmed that a namesake once lived there.
He had posted what appeared to be a manifesto on the research site ResearchGate, which was later removed, but a copy was uploaded.
In the 23-page document, he called for strikes and acts of civil disobedience on Sunday (the 16th, the opening day of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China), such as destroying new crown nucleic acid testing sites and preventing the “dictatorial” Xi Jinping from “illegally re-elected.” “Let China embark on the road of democracy and freedom.
Some Chinese netizens gathered on the protesters’ two Twitter accounts, posting pictures of what they claimed were protesters and leaving hundreds of thank-you messages.
“You are a hero and I respect you,” one wrote; another said: “Salute to the hero of the people! Hope you return safely!”
Protesters’ names and other protest-related material have been censored online. No information about the incident was found on Chinese social media site Weibo on Friday morning local time.
Images of protests and related keywords such as “Haidian,” “Beijing protesters,” and “Sitong Bridge” were quickly blocked; searches for protest-related phrases, including “bridge” and “hero,” also yielded limited results result.
image source,Reuters
There were no signs of protests on the Sitong Bridge on Thursday night.
Although Chinese media have yet to report on the protests, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times, appeared to allude to it in a tweet on Thursday night, saying the “vast majority” of Chinese support Communist Party rule and “hope for stability, against unrest”.
Many Chinese netizens said their social media platforms or WeChat accounts were temporarily blocked after sharing images of protests or posting messages suggesting protests.
The BBC has contacted Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, to confirm.
While China’s tough “zero” policy has drawn public dissatisfaction and grievances, such dramatic protests — and public criticism of the government — are rare in China.
In 2018, a woman was sent to a mental hospital after splashing ink on propaganda posters with a portrait of Xi Jinping, saying she opposed Xi’s “tyranny”.
The Beijing protests come at a particularly sensitive time in Chinese politics. Beijing is expected to deploy thousands of police officers ahead of the week-long 20th Party Congress.