China COV rules eased

Authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region opened up some neighborhoods in the capital of Urumqi Saturday in response to protests opposing the city’s prolonged COVID-19 lockdown.

The move came after displays of public defiance over a deadly Friday night fire in an apartment compound that killed 10. Emergency workers took three hours to extinguish the blaze, a delay many attributed to obstacles caused by anti-virus measures.

Authorities said the building’s residents were able to go downstairs, but videos of emergency crews’ efforts, shared on Chinese social media, led many to surmise the residents couldn’t escape in time because the building was partially locked down. The demonstrations, as well as public anger online, are the latest signs of growing frustration with China’s intense COVID-19 measures.

China has put the Xinjiang region, home to the country’s Muslim-minority Uighur population, under some of the country’s longest lockdowns, with many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents prohibited from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.