Thousands of people took to the streets in Beijing and Shanghai on Sunday to protest China's zero-Covid policy, in a rare show of public dissatisfaction with the government.
Hundreds of students from Beijing's Tsinghua University rallied at their campus on Sunday, the AFP news agency reported, chanting "freedom will prevail" and calling for an end to lockdowns.
The rally follows demonstrations overnight in Shanghai, China's most populous city and financial hub, as well as at a university in the eastern city of Nanjing.
A student at Tsinghua told AFP that Sunday's gathering began at 11:30am (03:30 GMT), when "students started holding up signs at the entrance of the canteen, then more and more people joined".
The student added: "Now there are 200 to 300 people… We sang the national anthem and the Internationale, and chanted 'freedom will prevail'".
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government.
In Shanghai, hundreds of people gathered at the city's Wulumqi Road at midnight, The Associated Press reported, bringing flowers, candles and signs reading "Urumqi, November 24, those who died rest in peace" to memorialise 10 people who died in a fire in an apartment building in Xinjiang's capital city, Urumqi.
The deaths have sparked widespread public outrage, with many internet users assuming that the residents of the high-rise building were unable to escape in time due to the building being partially locked down. However, city officials have dismissed the claim.
The crowds in Shanghai chanted, "Lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!", according to a video said to be of the demonstration that circulated on social media.
At one point a large group began shouting, "Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping, free Urumqi!", according to witnesses and video footage.
A large group of police looked on and sometimes tried to break up the crowd.
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