China Anti-Lockdown Protesters Call For Xi to Step Down

Weibo, China's heavily censored Twitter-like platform, makes no mention of protest rallies in either Shanghai or Beijing.

Dispersed protesters return hours later

Police used pepper spray to drive away demonstrators in Shanghai, but hours later residents returned to the same spot, only for police to break up their protest for a second time.

Video footage posted to social media showed BBC journalist Edward Lawrence being arrested while filming the Shanghai protest.

Also read: Indonesia Reports over 6,600 Daily Covid-19 Cases

The footage shows Lawrence being charged by several officers who then dragged him to the ground before pulling him up with his hands tied behind his back.

The BBC said Chinese police assaulted and detained Lawrence, before later releasing him after several hours.

"The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai," a spokesperson for the British public service broadcaster said in a statement.

"He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist," the spokesperson added.

The latest protests erupted after a fire broke out Thursday and killed at least 10 people in an apartment building in Urumqi in the northwestern Xinjiang region, where some people have been locked in their homes for four months.