9 Participants in China's 'Baekji Protest' Officially Arrested

In November last year, mainland Chinese students at the University of Hong Kong held up blank sheets of paper at a memorial gathering for the victims of the Urumqi fire in China, symbolizing their opposition to the Chinese government's 'Zero COVID' policy.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Bloomberg reported on the 25th that Chinese authorities officially arrested nine participants in the 'blank paper protests' against China's strict COVID-19 prevention policies.

Bloomberg cited the human rights website 'Weiquanwang,' which reported that on the 20th, the Beijing Prosecutor's Office approved the arrest of nine individuals suspected of participating in local protests.

Weiquanwang stated that the nine arrested were charged with "picking fights and provoking trouble," a charge commonly used by Chinese authorities to suppress dissidents.

Among those arrested was publisher editor Chao Zixin, who participated in last year's blank paper protests and, anticipating arrest, posted videos online. In the video, Chao Zixin claimed, "Two days after attending the blank paper protest, my friends were successively summoned by the police for investigation," adding, "The police arrested us without informing us of the detention location or time."

Previously, Weiquanwang reported, based on information from civic groups, that Chinese authorities had detained about 100 protest participants. Bloomberg also reported on the 15th, citing anonymous sources, that 12 citizens who participated in the protests were detained.

At the end of November last year, protests criticizing the authorities' zero-COVID policy spread mainly among young people in China following the Urumqi apartment fire tragedy. Claims circulated on social media that the installations placed by authorities to lock down apartments for COVID-19 prevention hindered the swift extinguishing of the fire. In response, when citizens took to the streets holding blank sheets of paper as a symbol of resistance against government censorship, Chinese authorities abandoned the zero-COVID policy just ten days after the protests began.