Opinion | Law on my side: How Chinese are protesting against illegal local Covid-19 measures

In a quiet revolution, lawyers, police and former judges are offering legal advice online, pointing out that many local measures violate government policies and laws

These well-educated, legally literate people can act as a buffer in clashes between the masses and the party, challenging the party to course-correct when their interests are at stake

Reading Time:3 minutes

Women wearing face masks and face shields check a phone on a street, as Covid-19 outbreaks continue in Shanghai on December 12. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:45am, 18 Dec 2022

In late November, Chinese protesters filled streets in highly visible acts of resistance against China’s draconian Covid-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, and for months preceding the protests, a group of legal professionals has engaged in a quieter but more revolutionary form of resistance.

Their venues are not city streets but internet forums. Their objective: to teach ordinary Chinese about the laws that prohibit many of the worst behaviours experienced during lockdown.

During the Covid-19 epidemic, hundreds of millions of Chinese experienced restrictions of personal freedom. In many places, including Shanghai and Henan, Covid-positive minors were taken into quarantine without their guardians. Residential committees in many cities restricted residents’ movements.

Some authorities blocked residential buildings’ stairways and even fire escapes. The death of 10 people in an apartment fire in Urumqi triggered recent protests, but the frustrations were legion.

The accumulation of grievances has led to a widely shared feeling of disproportionality and injustice. This phenomenon is familiar to scholars of Chinese history. Large protests, from the May Fourth Movement in 1919 to Tiananmen Square in 1989, have been expressions of discontent, often poorly articulated and without a basis in law.

This moment is different. Legal experts have emerged on the internet applying legal scrutiny and offering advice to the aggrieved. Many local Covid-control measures, they point out, are not only intolerable but illegal: they violate the central government’s policies and laws.

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