The Beaver Newsroom
On the evening of 27 November, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in London to mourn the victims of China’s zero-Covid policy and to express support for the ‘A4 revolution’. Similar protests took place on the same date in cities across the world, including Liverpool, Boston, Osaka and Auckland.
The mourning and protest were directly prompted by the Urumqi fire which had occurred three days before. Draconian lockdown rules prevented some residents in a burning building from escaping and delayed fire engines. Ten people died in the fire.
During the protest, sheets of A4 paper were distributed and held over one’s head. ‘A4’ stands for the protestors’ four demands, which are as follows: allowing public mourning of victims of excessive pandemic prevention; ending the zero-Covid policy; the release of protesters; and protecting the human rights enshrined in the Constitution. The blank ‘A4’ paper also symbolises everything Chinese people want to say yet cannot.
The Beaver was present at the protest. At the door of the embassy, people chanted “Xi Jinping, step down” and “CCP, step down”. Some used loudspeakers to read out black humour poems and voice their protest. Among them, a student who claimed to be born and raised in China said, “I know now what political awakening is: it is a moral awakening.” The street was quieter opposite the embassy, where candles were lit and shielded from the rain.
An LSE student at the scene, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “I didn’t wear a face mask because I wanted to be responsible for my political stand. Some approached us and suggested we should wear one, as there were people recording the protest and the footage would be analysed with face recognition technology. I did see a guy holding his camera at us from 2 metres away – which is unnatural. I didn’t think too much at that point, but now I’m worried they are going to hold my parents responsible for my showing up.”
Chinese students expressed the same fears at a candlelit vigil at LSE on 2 December. Those present were encouraged by organisers to wear black ‘as a sign of mourning’ for victims, and face-masks ‘to protect [their] identities’. In front of the CBG, mourners laid flowers and scrawled slogans onto a board. One student told The Beaver: “I am attend[ing] to appeal to the government to pay attention to citizens’ real needs and suffering.”
The preceding week, posters and sheets of A4 paper had appeared on campus walls; one student used the microphone at a UCU picket to tell the audience about the ‘revolution’. The vigil was organised via private Telegram groups and word-of-mouth. Students avoided posting publicly to social media for fear of repercussions.
After a speech from Professor Harriet Evans, the floor was opened to mourners. One student described a lack of academic freedom: they’d felt compelled to ask professors whether their chosen topic was ‘politically safe’ during their studies in Hong Kong. Another student told the audience about a schoolmate who had been imprisoned for sharing a video of protests in Hong Kong. Throughout, mourners would break down in tears.
