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TOPIC: china protests

Geopolitics

What Happened To China's Protests — And Missing Protesters?

Protests that engulfed China quickly faded as the government made a U-turn on its strict Zero-COVID policies, even as police sweeps of demonstrators have left families where their vanished loved ones are. Still, the "Blank Paper Revolution"'s cry for democracy may have quietly left its mark.

Dali Chan, a filmmaker and music lover, joined the protesting crowds in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was arrested on Dec. 4. He hasn't been seen since.

Dali is hardly the only "disappeared" protester, according to independent Chinese media NGOCN. Dianxin, a 25-year-old university student, is being held in prison in Guangzhou and denied access to a lawyer or her family members.

“Now that the Zero-COVID has been loosened, why is my daughter still in jail ?," asks her mother. "What crime has she committed?"

Charles, a 24-year-old Uyghur protester in Chengdu, was held by the police after joining a peaceful protest. His father, who barely speaks Mandarin, took a four-hour flight from Xinjiang, only to find out that his request to meet a lawyer was denied by the police. “My son is of a gentle personality,” his father says.

Because many of the arrests have been made in secret, it's impossible to know the number of protesters who have been jailed. Police are also still tracking down protesters in many cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou, where large-scale protests broke out.

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China Clampdown After Protests, Ukraine Nuclear Plant In Limbo, Word Of The Year

👋 Saluton!*

Welcome to Monday, where China appears to be stepping up security amid an unprecedented challenge to Xi Jinping’s rule as COVID protests spread across the country, Ukraine says Russian forces are leaving the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (which Moscow denies), and Merriam-Webster reveals its 2022 Word of the Year. Meanwhile, independent Russian media outlet Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories offers an exclusive look into how the Kremlin’s propaganda curriculum is playing out in Russian schools.

[*Esperanto]

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