More protests in China after violent police intervention 0:34
(CNN) --
From Shanghai to Beijing, protests have erupted across China in a rare display of dissent against the ruling Communist Party sparked by anger over the country's increasingly costly zero-Covid policy.
As the size of the demonstrations in several major cities increased over the weekend, so did the range of grievances expressed, with some calling for more democracy and freedom.
Among the thousands of protesters, hundreds have even called for the ouster of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who for nearly three years has overseen a strategy of mass testing, brute-force lockdowns, enforced quarantine, and digital monitoring that has come at a human and devastating economy.
This is what we know.
Why are they protesting in China?
The protests were sparked by a deadly fire last Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of the western Xinjiang region.
A fire at an apartment building killed at least 10 people and injured nine more, sparking public anger after videos of the incident appeared to show lockdown measures had delayed firefighters reaching the victims.
Look at this shocking fire in China, in the midst of severe isolation measures by covid-19 0:48
The city was locked down for more than 100 days, residents were unable to leave the region and many were forced to stay at home.
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Videos showed Urumqi residents marching towards a government building and chanting for an end to the lockdown on Friday.
The next morning, the local government said it would lift the lockdown in stages, but did not provide a clear time frame or address the protests.
That failed to quell public anger and the protests quickly spread beyond Xinjiang, with residents of cities and universities across China also taking to the streets.
Where are the protests happening?
Protests have been reported across the country.
So far, CNN has verified demonstrations in at least 16 places across the country, including two of China's biggest cities, the capital Beijing and financial center Shanghai.
In Shanghai on Saturday, hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil on Urumqi Road, named after the city in Xinjiang, to mourn the victims of the fire.
Many held up blank sheets of paper, a symbolic protest against censorship, and chanted: "Human rights are needed, freedom is needed."
Some also shouted at Xi to “resign”, and sang The Internationale, a socialist anthem used as a call to action in demonstrations around the world for more than a century.
It was also used during the pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square before a brutal crackdown by armed troops in 1989.
China's zero-Covid policies have been felt particularly sharply in Shanghai, where a two-month lockdown earlier this year left many without access to food, healthcare or other basic supplies, sowing deep public resentment.
By Sunday night, mass demonstrations had spread to Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Wuhan, where thousands of residents called not just for an end to covid restrictions, but more notably, for political freedoms.
Residents of some confined neighborhoods broke down the barriers and took to the streets.
Protests also took place on university campuses, including the prestigious institutions of Beijing University and Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the Communication University of China, Nanjing.
He fully supported China's zero covid policy until his father died 3:33
Why is this important?
Public protests are extremely rare in China, where the Communist Party has tightened its grip on all aspects of life, launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent, eliminated much of civil society and built a high-profile surveillance state. technology.
The system of mass surveillance is even stricter in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government is accused of detaining up to 2 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in camps where former detainees have claimed they were physically and sexually abused.
A damning United Nations report in September described the region's “invasive” surveillance network, with police databases containing hundreds of thousands of files with biometric data such as face and eye scans.
Police form a cordon during protests in Beijing on November 27.
China has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses in the region.
While protests do happen in China, they rarely occur on this scale, nor are they so directly targeted against the central government and the nation's leader, said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University who studies Chinese politics and media. .
“This is a different type of protest from the more localized protests we have seen recurring in the last two decades that tend to focus their claims and demands on local officials and on very specific social and economic issues,” he said.
Instead, this time the protests have broadened to include “the sharpest expression of political grievances alongside concerns about covid-19 lockdowns.”
There have been increasing signs in recent months that the public has run out of patience with the zero covid strategy, after nearly three years of economic hardship and disruption to daily life.
Isolated pockets of protest broke out in October, with anti-covid-zero slogans appearing on the walls of public toilets and in several Chinese cities, inspired by a banner hung by a lone protester on an overpass in Beijing just days before Xi will cement a third term in power.
Larger protests took place in Guangzhou in early November, where residents defied stay-at-home orders by breaking down barriers and cheering as they took to the streets.
China blocks transportation center due to covid-19 outbreak 1:11
How have the authorities responded?
While protests in various parts of China appear to have dispersed peacefully over the weekend, some met with a stronger response from the authorities.
The Shanghai protests on Saturday sparked scuffles between protesters and police, with arrests made in the early hours of the morning.
Undeterred, the protesters returned on Sunday, where they were met with a more aggressive response: Videos show chaotic scenes of police pushing, dragging and beating protesters.
At one point, hundreds of policemen formed a human wall to block off major streets, blaring a message for the protesters to leave.
The videos have since been removed from the Chinese Internet by censors.
BBC journalist Edward Lawrence was arrested in Shanghai on Sunday night, with a BBC spokesperson saying he was "beaten and kicked by police" while covering the protests.
Since then, he has been released.
On Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman acknowledged Lawrence's arrest, saying he had not identified himself as a journalist before he was detained.
The spokesman also evaded questions about the protests, telling a reporter who asked whether widespread displays of public anger would cause China to consider ending Covid-zero: "What you mentioned doesn't reflect what actually happened."
He also claimed that social media posts linking the Xinjiang fire to covid policies had "ulterior motives" and that authorities have been "making adjustments based on realities on the ground."
When asked about the protesters calling for Xi's resignation, he replied: "I am not aware of the situation he mentioned."
Without referring to the protests, the Beijing municipal government on Sunday banned blocking entrances to residential compounds under lockdown, saying they must remain free for emergency services.
By Monday, Shanghai authorities were seen putting up high barriers along the street where the protests had taken place.
State media have remained silent on the demonstrations but raised their support for the zero-covid strategy, with a newspaper on Sunday calling it "the most scientifically effective approach".
CNN's Wayne Chang contributed reporting.
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