Covid restrictions lifted in Guangzhou and Chongqing after China protests

After days of extraordinary protests in the country that also prompted international demonstrations in solidarity, the US and Canada urged China not to harm or intimidate protesters opposing Covid-19 lockdowns.

The south-western city of Chongqing will allow close contacts of people with Covid-19, who fulfil certain conditions, to quarantine at home, a city official said.

The easing of restrictions, which came despite rising cases in the city, did not extend to all districts. Some areas, including parts of Haizhu, where protesters scuffled with police on Tuesday night, according to witnesses and footage, remained under restrictions.

The city recorded almost 7,000 Covid cases on Tuesday. In Haizhu there had been several protests and clashes with police over the past month, and it was the site of the most recent protests in a wave of civil disobedience that escalated dramatically on Friday.

Late on Tuesday, security personnel in hazmat suits formed ranks shoulder-to-shoulder, taking cover under riot shields, to make their way down a street in Haizhu district as glass smashed around them, videos posted on social media showed.

A Guangzhou resident told AFP on Wednesday he witnessed about 100 police officers converge on Houjiao village in Haizhu district and arrest at least three men on Tuesday night.

Chinese authorities have been seeking out people who gathered at weekend protests, some who were at the Beijing demonstrations told Reuters. The number of people who have been detained at the demonstrations and in follow-up police actions is not known.

Police were out in force in Beijing and Shanghai on Tuesday to prevent further protests against pandemic restrictions that have disrupted the lives of millions, damaged the economy and briefly led to rare calls for Xi to step down.

Such a move is a vital precursor to loosening controls without mass deaths or overwhelming the health system in a country where there is almost no natural immunity to Covid, after nearly three years of trying to eliminate the virus. China has not yet approved mRNA vaccines, proven to be more efficacious, for public use.

Screenshots of the message, seen by the Guardian, warned against attending any protests and urged people to report any neighbours making inflammatory remarks to national security agencies. A resident of that compound said friends elsewhere in the city had received the same message.

Economists and health experts, however, warn that Beijing cannot relax controls that keep most travellers out of China until tens of millions of older people are vaccinated. They say that means zero-Covid controls might not end for another year.