China’s internet scrubbed of rare protest against ‘dictator’ Xi Jinping

China’s censors have stepped into high gear to scrub the internet of evidence of a rare protest in central Beijing and punish social media users who spread its message calling for President Xi Jinping’s removal.

The small-scale demonstration, which involved a fire and two handwritten banners draped from a highway overpass, came as the Chinese capital bolsters security for the ruling Communist party’s most important political meeting in a decade.

The banners demanded the removal of “dictator and traitor Xi Jinping”, days before the president is expected to secure a third term as party leader. The messages also called for an end to the country’s draconian zero-Covid policies.

Photos and videos of the two banners beside a column of smoke ricocheted across the internet in China until the country’s censors caught up. Thousands of WeChat users who shared pictures of the protest found their accounts suspended on Thursday afternoon, some for 24 hours, while others received notices that they were permanently banned from the Tencent-owned app, which is essential to daily life in China.

“Erasing a social media presence is torture,” said a 27-year-old designer who asked to be identified by his English name Ryan. “I’ve lost connections with a lot of people. I’ve lost memories. I’ve lost possibilities.”

One of the protest banners strung to the bridge advocated strikes at schools and workplaces to remove China’s leader, while the other declared: “We don’t want PCR tests, we want food, we don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom.”

“We don’t want figureheads, we want to vote, don’t be a slave but a citizen,” the banner said, according to images posted on Twitter.

Photos online purport to show a rare protest in Beijing’s Haidian district just ahead of the 20th Party Congress.

Extraordinary given pre-Congress security + surveillance

Among the slogans: ‘Don’t want PCR tests, want to eat’

‘Don’t want a Cultural revolution, want reforms’ pic.twitter.com/9RwyDb36RM

— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) October 13, 2022

Public criticism of the Chinese leader is rare. Property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was detained two years ago after penning a thinly veiled critique of Xi’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. He was later charged with corruption and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Tencent’s WeChat and the Twitter-like Weibo service deleted all mentions and images of the protest and disabled thousands of users’ accounts for violating “relevant Internet policies”. 

Three WeChat users who spoke to the Financial Times shared the notifications they had received, which said the ban from all WeChat services besides payments could “never be removed”.

“It feels like somebody is choking you,” said Tom Chen, who was banned after sharing a photo of the protest with a friend.

Hundreds of WeChat users pleaded for the return of their accounts in social media messages to Tencent’s customer service. “I’ve deeply reflected and regret my actions and pledge to use WeChat lawfully from now on and into the future,” begged one user. “Please give me the opportunity . . . I will positively contribute to society!”

Meanwhile, Weibo blocked all results for a slew of keywords connected to the incident, including “bridge”, “brave” and “warrior”. 

Teng Biao, a human rights lawyer and visiting professor at the University of Chicago, said the protest was significantly embarrassing for Xi, slipping through China’s surveillance apparatus ahead of the all-important party meeting.

“The protest echoes many Chinese people’s views. They are angry, especially with how Covid-19 has been dealt with, but everyone has been silenced.

“This protest is a very important symbol of the anger and dissatisfaction of Chinese society,” Teng said. “That’s why the censorship went crazy.”

Chinese officials have spent months preparing for the party congress, clearing any possible distractions. The public security ministry launched a 100-day operation under which 1.4mn people were arrested to lay a “solid foundation” for the opening of the congress on Sunday.

Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.