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Uyghur community in Vienna holds demonstration against fire incident in Urumqi

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Vienna | November 28, 2022 11:00:09 PM IST
Uyghur community in Vienna, Austria organised a demonstration in front of the Embassy of China on Monday to protest against the death of innocent Uyghurs in the fire incident in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

The protest was led by Melvan Dilshat, President of the Uyghur Community in Austria. During the protest, they raised slogans against the Chinese government for its actions in committing the Uyghur Genocide.

Prayers were also offered to the victims of the fire incident. The Uyghur community in Austria strongly supported the Chinese people in their fight against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Tibetan community in Austria also joined this protest with Uyghurs and stood in support of them.

Innocent lives including those of children were lost due to the deliberate inaction of CCP under the pretext of COVID lockdowns.

Protests began in Urumqi, the capital of the far-western Xinjiang region, on Friday following the deaths of 10 people in an apartment block fire before spreading over the weekend to major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chengdu.

Meanwhile, China's western Xinjiang region eased some COVID-19 restrictions in its capital Urumqi on Monday, after a deadly fire in the city blamed on virus controls sparked protests across the country.

People in the city of four million, some of whom have been confined to their homes for weeks on end, can travel around on buses to run errands within their home districts starting Tuesday, officials said at a press conference Monday, reported Arab News.

The protests in Urumqi erupted after footage posted on social media showed fire trucks spraying water from too far away to reach the apartment building, with internet users claiming authorities could not get closer due to pandemic barricades and cars that had been abandoned by people who had been quarantined.

Videos and photographs of the protests quickly circulated on Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, where they received tens of thousands of views before being deleted by government censors, reported Al Jazeera.

The acts of defiance shared online included scenes of people tearing down barricades, calling for the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and holding up blank white pieces of paper as a symbol of protest.

China's COVID protests come as the country is grappling with its most cases yet, promoting a new wave of lockdowns and restrictions on freedom of movement in big cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou. Health authorities reported 40,347 new infections for Sunday, a fifth straight daily record.

Residents of Urumqi, where the recent protests began, have lived under harsh restrictions since August 10, in what is believed to be China's longest continuous lockdown.

China is the last country in the world sticking to a "zero-COVID" policy aimed at stamping out flare-ups of the virus at almost any cost. The strategy, which relies on lockdowns, border controls and mass testing, has kept cases and deaths low compared with elsewhere, but inflicted serious economic and social costs. (ANI)

 
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