Anniversary of zero-Covid protests a muted affair in China

Protesters say rallies a year ago helped end curbs, but failed to achieve lasting change

One year after "white paper" protests flared up across China against stringent Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Huang Yicheng fears this rare show of public dissent may eventually be forgotten by the public amid state censorship.

The wave of civil disobedience, which erupted on Nov 25, 2022, was unprecedented in President Xi Jinping's decade in power, which has seen a widespread crackdown on civil society.

While protests against the zero- Covid policy were quickly suppressed by the police, they helped hasten the end of three years of some of the world's strictest pandemic curbs.

"Many protesters experienced being part of a civic collective for the first time," said Mr Huang, who fled to Germany in March after narrowly avoiding detention during protests in Shanghai. "For Chinese people, this is like first love."

Six participants based in China and overseas told Reuters they felt of hope and ambivalence the demonstrations, which they said helped to end Covid-19 restrictions but failed to achieve lasting political change.