Authorities in China’s western Xinjiang region opened up some neighborhoods in the capital of Urumqi on Saturday after residents held extraordinary late-night protests against the draconian COVID-19 lockdown.
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Urumqi on Friday night against the containment measures which saw many of the city’s 4 million residents barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.
Chinese media showed footage of people breaking through metal fences, and some of them can be heard shouting “End the lockdown!”
Other video footage showed people in a plaza singing China’s national anthem with its lyric, “Rise up, those who refuse to be slaves!”
Apartment fire deaths blamed on lockdown
Protesters also vented their anger over a fire in an apartment…