There was a house fire in an Urumqi apartment building on November 26 night in which at
least 10 people -- numbers later revised to nearly 100 -- including three young children,
perished after not being allowed to leave the building as the fire blazed due to COVID
restrictions. The firefighters sprayed water onto the building, while the people huddled as long
as they could on their balconies. The building was locked the entire time preventing people
from exiting and the firefighters from entering. There were demonstrations on November 25
night in front of a large government building in Urumqi.
Protests have broken out in at least 10 cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Urumqi, Korla,
Chengdu, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai with crowds shouting,
"Down with Xi Jinping" and having stand-offs with police as late as 0130 on November 27 at
Beijing's Haidian University District. Students of Tsinghua University and Communication
University of China, Nanjing, participated in the protests. The Hongkong-based Intium
estimated that students from 79 tertiary educational institutions across China participated in the
protests. Public Security personnel began arresting protesters on November 27 night. On
November 29, PLA tanks, heavy vehicles and ambulances were seen being deployed outside
Tsinghua University, in Rizhao City, Shandon and Zhengzhou. China's official media,
including the China Daily and Global Times, had blanked out reports of the protests till
November 28. Crowds chanted the slogans "习近平下台“(Xi Jinping Steps Down!) and ”共
产党下台“ (CCP Gets Off!).
(Comment: It is possible that elements in the CCP who are unhappy with Xi Jinping could be
using, or may use, the protests to destabilise Xi Jinping. Interesting was the reporting of the
protests by Russia's RT on November 27, which emphasised this was a "colour revolution"
instigated by "hostile foreign forces".)
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