Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg
Officials in Beijing took the unprecedented step of temporally banning "Beijing" as a search term following a rare protest in China's capital.
You won't like angry banner
According to Bloomberg, on Oct. 13, two banners were hung from the Sitong bridge, located in northwest Beijing. Shortly after, a plume of smoke could be seen from the bridge, although it is not clear what caused it.
The two banners had messages that protested against the harsh zero-Covid policies enacted in China since the start of the pandemic, as well as China's President Xi Jinping.
One banner contained a message written in mandarin in six stanzas, as translated by The Washington Post:
"We want to eat, not do coronavirus tests
We want reform, not the Cultural Revolution
We want freedom, not lockdowns
We want elections, not rulers
We want dignity, not lies
Be citizens, not enslaved people"
The other banner called for a general strike:
"Students strike, workers strike, people strike;
The dictator, traitor -- Xi Jinping"
One Chinese social media user driving past the bridge recorded a man broadcasting the banner's message:
The man responsible for the protest is said to be a Chinese scientist named Peng Lifa, although this has not yet been verified.
A bridge too far
Chinese authorities had reacted strongly to images of both the banner and the message it tried to spread. In addition to arresting the man and removing the banner, they tried to censor discussion of the incident on social media.
The Guardian reported that searches related to the protest were banned, including the remarkable step of banning searches for the capital "Beijing", as well as words like "bridge".
In addition, bridge guards have apparently been set up in the Beijing area, preventing similar protest from occurring.
When AP visited the Haidian area the next day, people who worked in the vicinity of the bridge denied seeing anything occurr at the bridge, with many refusing to speak to them.
However, outside of China, it seems that many dissidents and protestors have taken up the words of the bridge protest, such as university students.
Even in China itself, there are signs that dissatisfaction with the government is rising, with an in-depth report by the Wall Street Journal noting that many posts about Communist Party leaders in China have almost all comments hidden, and many official posts preemptively preventing comments.
China is holding the 20th Communist Party Congress, where President and Party Secretary General Xi Jinping is to be coronated party leader for an unprecedented third term. This comes amidst growing frustration over Covid-19 prevention measures, such as harsh lockdowns with little warning, and other associated challenges presented to the economy.
The congress is likely the reason why authorities have responded to news of the protest with harsher than usual measures. Some Chinese claimed their Weibo accounts have been permanently banned after sharing images of the bridge protest -- a temporary ban lasting weeks or months would have been more common.
Related stories
Top image via @fangshimin /Twitter & Nicolas Asfouri-Pool/Getty Images