“At least we dared to speak, while everyone was silent”: the great awakening of young Chinese in the face of Xi Jinping

Correspondent in Asia

After the crackdown, Omicron.

In December, Andy* holed up at home, devastated by the virus that has been sweeping Beijing for weeks, overflowing hospitals and crematoriums.

The fear of a police raid added to the fever for this 27-year-old photographer, who dared to participate in the short-lived demonstrations against President Xi Jinping's "zero Covid" strategy in the capital on November 27.

That day, hundreds of young people brandished sheets of white A4 paper, a new sign of rallying against the censorship of the communist regime.

In Shanghai, some even dare to shout:

A spontaneous rebellion, without a leader, carried by an urban youth exasperated by ever more extreme health controls.

Read also“Zero Covid” policy: Chinese anger turns against Xi Jinping

A month later, China is preparing to reopen its doors to the world, but the biggest protest movement since Tiananmen has a hangover, repressed by the police apparatus, which traces the traces of the participants...

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