Watch: Widespread protests in China after 10 die in Urumqi fire amid Covid restrictions

Demonstrators shouting slogans as police hold their positions, in Shanghai. Angry crowds took to the streets in Shanghai in the early hours of Sunday.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Beijing and Shanghai on Sunday to protest against China's zero-Covid policy in a rare outpouring of public anger against the state.

China's hardline virus strategy is stoking public frustration, with many growing weary of snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines, and mass testing campaigns.

A deadly fire on Thursday in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang region, has become a fresh catalyst for public anger, with many blaming lengthy Covid lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts. Authorities deny the claims.

Seemingly spontaneous protest converging again at Urumqi Road in Shanghai, despite heavy police presence. People are shouting “let them go 放人!” Apparently in reference to those arrested at previous protests. pic.twitter.com/JjOvtcqFnr

— Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) November 27, 2022

Hundreds rallied at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University to protest against lockdowns on Sunday, one witness who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.

Another campus protest in Beijing. This time it is Tsinghua University, with students holding white paper in front of a school canteen, a “censored” protest against zero covid. pic.twitter.com/wAMK1eQpaf

— flyingspaghettiisreal (@pastafarianis) November 27, 2022

"At 11:30 am students started holding up signs at the entrance of the canteen, then more and more people joined. Now there are 200 to 300 people," they said.

Participants sang the national anthem and "the Internationale" -- a standard of the international communist movement -- and chanted "freedom will prevail", "no nucleic acid tests, we want food",  and "no to lockdowns, we want freedom", they said.

They described students holding up blank pieces of paper, a symbolic protest against censorship.

Corresponding videos shared online showed a crowd in the same location, gathered around a speaker shouting: "This is not normal life, we've had enough. Our lives were not like this before!"

In the early hours of Sunday on central Shanghai's Wulumuqi street -- named for Urumqi in Mandarin -- video showed protesters chanting "Xi Jinping, step down! CCP, step down!" in a rare display of public opposition to the Chinese Communist Party's top leadership. The video was widely shared on social media and geolocated by AFP.

A person who attended the Shanghai protests but who asked not to be identified told AFP they arrived at the rally at 2:00 am (1800 GMT) to see one group of people putting flowers on the sidewalk to mourn the 10 people killed in the Urumqi fire, while another group chanted slogans.

Video taken by an eyewitness showed a large crowd shouting and holding up blank pieces of paper as they faced several lines of police.

Protests in Shanghai last night on Wulumuqi Road (the street is named after the city in Xinjiang where the fire happened two days ago). Tense night. Feels like a significant moment considering protests happening in cities around the country in the past week. pic.twitter.com/O1Gb7SW48S

— 冉天宁 (@DRechts) November 27, 2022

The attendee said there were minor clashes but that overall the police were "civilised".

"It's shocking to know that, under today's circumstances, there are still many brave people standing out," they said.

Multiple witnesses said several people were taken away by the police.

Authorities were swift to curb online discussion of the protest, with related phrases scrubbed from the Twitter-like Weibo platform almost immediately after footage of the rallies emerged.

- University vigils -
Other vigils took place overnight at universities across China, including one at Tsinghua's neighbour Peking University, an undergraduate participant told AFP.

Speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions, he said some anti-Covid slogans had been graffitied on a wall in the university. Some of the words echoed a banner that was hung over a Beijing bridge just before the Communist Party Congress in October.

People had started gathering from around midnight local time, but he hadn't dared join initially.

"When I arrived (two hours later), I think there were at least 100 people there, maybe 200," the undergraduate said.

"People weren't really sure what they should shout. But I heard people yelling: 'No to Covid tests, yes to freedom!'," he said.

Photos and videos he showed AFP corroborated his account.

The students were communicating with security guards and teachers, he said, but it was unclear if they faced punishment for taking part.

The graffiti had already been covered up when he arrived, he said.

Videos on social media also showed a mass vigil at Nanjing Institute of Communications, with people holding lights and white sheets of paper.

Hashtags relating to the protest were censored on Weibo, and video platforms Duoyin and Kuaishou were scrubbed of any videos.

Videos from Xi'an, Guangzhou and Wuhan showing similar small protests also spread on social media.

China reported 39,506 domestic Covid-19 cases Sunday, a record high but small compared to caseloads in the West at the height of the pandemic.

(With inputs from AFP)

Read more: Taiwan president quits as party head after China threat bet fails to win votes