This is now on Wulumuqi (=Urumqi) lu in #Shanghai. People holding up white sheets of paper. ‘We don’t need to write anything on it. It is a symbol of the revolution of the people’, someone says. (Don’t manage to send videos.)
‘We want freedom!’
First it was only a few hundred people. But they seem to be coming from far outside the city centre. More than a thousand now, i’m estimating.
Chilling. The national anthem. Especially that phrase ‘qi lai!’ (‘stand up!’). Never seen anything like this. Well, except in #HongKong…
Asked a police officer if he agreed with the people. He smiled with a very long silence. ‘We can’t do anything about it. Mei banfa.’
‘Down with the party! Down with Xi Jinping!’ Free Xinjiang!’
Apologies. I posted a video in which people sing the Internationale. They sang the anthem too.
Police getting tired now too. They divided the crowd in two parts and arrested a few people.
More police arrived. They split the crowd and push it back.
One more time ‘qi lai!’ Less impressive as before but still…
Wonder what the vigil site on the Wulumuqi/Anfu lu corner looks like now. Seems the police has surrounded it. Meanwhile, this new site is being set up further down the road.
At the south end of the street are still more than hundred people. They are yelling. ‘We are all Chinese!’ The police is quietly waiting until they leave.
I’m heading home now. Just want to add how incredible this is. Never seen anything like this in the decade that I report on China. The anger seems too much to crack down on. Wonder what happens next.
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