Rare protest against Xi Jinping in China ahead of key meet

A rare protest against Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government's rigid zero-Covid policy took place in Beijing, days before he is expected to be handed an unprecedented third term in office at a landmark meeting of the ruling Communist Party.

Photos circulating in social media on Thursday showed two banners hung on an overpass of a major thoroughfare in the northwest of the Chinese capital, protesting against Xi’s unpopular zero-Covid policy and authoritarian rule.

The banners read “Food, not COVID test”; “Reform, not a Cultural Revolution”; “Freedom, not lockdowns”; “Votes, not a leader. Dignity, not lies. Citizens, not slaves” etc.

The banners appeared to have rattled officials in China – where political protest is rare - as they hurriedly deployed police on numerous over bridges in Beijing to ensure that the protests are not spread, while mobile patrolling has been intensified in the city.

China's internet censors moved quickly to scrub any social media posts about the protest.

Images on Twitter, which is blocked in China, showed smoke spiraling up from a fire on an elevated roadway and banners calling for an end to the hardline zero-COVID policy and the overthrow of Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping.

Posts containing the hashtags Beijing or Haidian were quickly blocked on China's popular Weibo social media platform. Some of the posts expressed support and praised the unidentified person's courage without referring to the incident directly.

Others said on Twitter that their accounts had been temporarily disabled on another major Chinese platform, WeChat, after they shared photos of the incident. A song named "Sitong Bridge," the name of the section of elevated roadway where the incident reportedly happened, was removed from online music platforms.

Xi, who came to power in 2012, is expected to receive a third five-year term as party leader at the end of the congress.

His government's strict anti-pandemic polices, which have placed millions of people under quarantine, have prompted small protests and confrontations with authorities.

Also watch: Covid-19 curbs in Shanghai spark fears of another lockdown

China has the world's largest online population, building a reliance on the web for shopping and entertainment even while authorities carefully track commentary and quash any criticism of Xi and other party leaders.