Overseas Chinese step up protests as calls mount for change – Reuters

TORONTO/HONG KONG, Nov 30 (Reuters) – From Sydney to Toronto, mainland Chinese have stepped up protests this week, with demands to end the world’s most stringent COVID-19 restrictions evolving into calls to “free China” and for President Xi Jinping to step down.Overseas-based Chinese and their supporters rallied in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and Toronto, with more protests planned in coming days.”Free China. Xi Jinping step down,” about 30 people shouted in Toronto on Tuesday.At Harvard University in Massachusetts, dozens chanted: “No more lies” and “no more censorship.”China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Outside the Chinese consulate in New York, hundreds gathered, some waving blank white placards, which have become a protest symbol in China.Many shouted slogans in Mandarin, criticising China’s human rights record and the impact of its zero-COVID policy, which has taken a heavy toll on the economy and people’s freedoms.Some were reluctant to give their names for fear relatives in China could face harassment by authorities.The anger at home and abroad swelled after authorities reported 10 people had been killed in a fire in the Xinjiang region that many people online blamed on stringent COVID rules, which they said trapped residents
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