Learn why protests in China are rare and historic

China is witnessing a rare wave of protests in several cities against its rulers.

Protesters are calling for an end to the frequent lockdowns and zero tolerance policy against Covid-19.

Protests are taking place in several Chinese cities, including the capital, Beijing, and the country’s largest metropolis and financial capital, Shanghai. Several provincial capitals are also being shaken by protesters.

Localized protests, for specific reasons, take place in the country on some occasions.

But such a widespread and politically charged wave of events has not taken place publicly in mainland China since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

On the occasion, the Chinese Army repressed with extreme violence the protests of students who asked for more democracy and that lasted six weeks in the square, which is in the center of Beijing.

Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested in the crackdown that followed the protests.

More recently, in 2019 and 2020, the people of Hong Kong, a former British colony, also rose up against authoritarian orders coming from Beijing – especially after a law was passed allowing the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China under certain circumstances.

Hong Kong has always had different rules from mainland China, but that ended in 2019. The population then began a series of protests that lasted for months – and ended with a major repression by the Chinese authorities, who arrested and extradited demonstrators.

The protests at the moment in the country have not yet taken on such large proportions. But international media showed that, in several cases, ordinary people are calling for the resignation of the country’s president, Xi Jinping, and an end to the dictatorship of the Communist Party of China – which has lasted 73 years.

Witnesses to these requests said they were shocked, as this type of demonstration in a dictatorship like the Chinese one can lead to years in prison – or even the death penalty.

As expected, the police have already received orders to end the protests at all costs, and many people have already been arrested. Among them, a correspondent for the BBC, the UK’s public communications company.

The repression of the Chinese dictatorship should increase even more, in an attempt to quell yet another protest against the lack of freedoms and democracy in the country.