"Voices of April", the protest against censorship in Shanghai

Expats show their disappointment with the confinement in Shanghai 4:11

(CNN) --

The screams of residents on lockdown demanding basic necessities, the cries of babies separated from their parents in quarantine, the pleas of a son repeatedly turned down by hospitals to treat his seriously ill father, and the sobs of an exhausted local official who admits there is "no good policy" from higher authorities for her to explain to residents what is going on.

These voices, charged with raw frustration, agony and despair, are among a montage of audio recordings featured in "April Voices," a video documenting the harsh impact of the nearly month-long lockdown in Shanghai, China.

Shanghai's citywide lockdown, one of the strictest the country has seen, has plunged the once-bustling international financial center into a virtual ghost town, causing shortages of food, daily necessities and even problems with medical access for many of them. its 25 million residents confined to their homes.

"A month after the outbreak in Shanghai, I saw many people talking online, but most of them disappeared after a while," the video's creator posted on WeChat on Friday.

"However, some things should not have happened and should not be forgotten."

• China's capital rushes to contain 'urgent and grim' Covid-19 outbreak as Shanghai lockdown continues

The personal problems, told in the residents' own voices and overlaid with black-and-white aerial footage of the city's silent skyline and empty streets, touched the hearts of millions of Chinese Internet users as the video spread like wildfire across social media platforms on Friday afternoon.

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But for the Chinese government, the six-minute clip exposing chaos and suffering is an all too powerful reminder of the human cost of its Covid-zero policy, which officials say is "putting people and their lives first."

Censors quickly intervened, removing the video and any references to it from China's internet.

On the Weibo microblogging site, even the word "April" was temporarily restricted from search results.

• ANALYSIS |

  Hunger and anger dominate the endless nightmare of the confinement in Shanghai, China

Grandma escapes quarantine in Shanghai 0:44

Protests over the censorship of the video on the confinement

The censorship sparked an outcry.

Many have been infuriated by the authorities' attempt to remove what they see as objective documentation of the darker reality of the lockdown, one that can rarely be found in state media.

The Chinese authorities' decision on the video followed a backlash online, with users joining a social media broadcast in defiance, sharing the video in any way they could think of to evade censors.

Some posted the video upside down, others embedded it in cartoon clips, and some distributed it via QR codes and cloud services.

Censors struggled to keep up: as soon as they blocked one version of the video, another resurfaced, and the game of cat and mouse continued into the early hours of this Saturday.

Some even shared a clip of the song "Do You Hear the People Sing," a protest anthem from the 2012 film Les Misérables.

The outburst of anger reminded many of the public outcry two years ago following the death of Li Wenliang, a Wuhan doctor who was punished by police for sounding the coronavirus alarm and died of covid-19.

"They are still trying to gag our mouths and cover our ears," one user wrote in the comments section of Li's Weibo page shortly after midnight on Saturday.

online protests

The online protest is the latest sign of growing discontent towards harsh covid containment measures among Shanghai residents, as well as people in other parts of China who have watched the crisis unfold with horror on social media.

But instead of relaxing lockdown measures, Shanghai authorities have strengthened their resolve to bring cases down to zero outside designated quarantine sites.

In Shanghai's Pudong district, epidemic prevention authorities ordered a "hard quarantine" to be installed in communities under the strictest level of lockdown, that is, those that reported covid cases during the past week, before this Sunday, according to an official directive circulating online.

On Saturday, Chinese social media was flooded with photos of workers in white hazmat suits installing green fences outside apartment buildings in Shanghai.

The harsh lockdown has sparked more anger.

"These kinds of measures completely ignore fire safety. If a fire breaks out, the rescue will not arrive in time, the consequences will be unimaginable. Who will be responsible then?" commented a Weibo user.

• How is the massive confinement due to covid-19 lived in Shanghai?

  CNN reporter recounts his experience

This is how Shanghai lives the strict confinement of the zero-covid policy 3:40

Other cities on alert due to strict confinement

The dysfunction and chaos of the Shanghai lockdown has put residents in other cities on alert.

In Beijing, residents rushed to buy groceries on Sunday night amid a new coronavirus outbreak that authorities described as "urgent and grim."

The Chinese capital recorded 19 new local cases on Sunday, bringing the total in the city since Friday to 60.

Chaoyang, one of the largest districts in Beijing, announced that it will launch three rounds of mass testing for those who work and live in the district.

Many fear that tighter restrictions, such as a lockdown, could soon be implemented if more coronavirus cases are detected.

Photos and videos shared online show long lines and empty shelves at Beijing supermarkets and "out of stock" signs on grocery delivery apps.

On Weibo and Wechat, articles providing advice on what kinds of food and daily necessities to stock up on in the event of a lockdown have gone viral.

Panic buying took place despite Beijing officials assuring residents at a press conference earlier that day that "the city's market supply for daily necessities is sufficient and trade is normal."

"In Beijing greengrocers and supermarkets, everyone is panic buying. The section that sells instant noodles is completely empty," a Weibo resident said on Monday.

"The psychological shadow that Shanghai has brought us may not disappear for quite some time," he added.

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