SHANGHAI/BEIJING—Crowds of demonstrators in Shanghai shouted and held up blank sheets of papers early on Sunday evening, as protests flared in China against heavy COVID-19 curbs following a deadly fire in the country’s far west sparked widespread anger.
The wave of civil disobedience, which has included protests in cities including Beijing and Urumqi, where the fire occurred, is unprecedented in mainland China since Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.
In Shanghai, China’s most populous city, residents had gathered on Saturday night at Wulumuqi Road— which is named after Urumqi—for a candlelight vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday….