After the disaster in which 10 people lost their lives in a fire that broke out in a quarantined apartment in Urumqi, the center of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Region, on Thursday, Chinese people gathered in the square where the local government building is located and in other regions to protest the strict the Covid-19 measures. The demonstrators chanted “End quarantine”, “If we’re going to die, let’s die together” and sang the Chinese national anthem. Police and officials tried to stop the angry crowd trying to break through the barriers.

The Chinese public criticized the incident on Thursday as the fire in the apartment was extinguished after 3 hours because, according to the footage on social media, the fire trucks had difficulty in passing through the streets that were closed with barriers within the framework of the Covid-19 measures. Urumqi authorities responded to the criticisms about the fire disaster at a press conference held at night and argued that contrary to the images shared on social media, the residents of the apartments were allowed to go outside as the apartment was in a “low risk” area, which allows the quarantined to leave the building. An official from the fire brigade, on the other hand, claimed that it was not the barriers, but the parked vehicles that blocked the street. The statements of the authorities further increased the anger of the people of Urumqi. Critical posts on social media platforms widely used in China were soon censored.

Authorities also announced that the months-long quarantine in Urumqi will be phased out. At a press conference held by the Urumqi local government, it was promised that quarantine measures would be relaxed for the areas identified as having “low risk”.