Authorities in China have erected blue barricades in riotous Shanghai. Arrests are being made. The protests have erupted against the brutal restrictions imposed by the authorities in an effort to maintain a "zero COVID" policy, but have turned anti-government - an unprecedented situation for the communist country.

Anti-government slogans were also raised at the demonstrations yesterday, including demands for the resignation of President Xi Jinping and a change to the one-party model.

There were protests in several cities - in the capital, Beijing, police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators in the diplomatic district, while in Shanghai, protesters were taken away by bus, writes Reuters.

Shanghai police are arresting anyone walking near the protest and taking pictures, the BBC reports. Authorities force people to delete their photos and arrest them if they refuse. At least two people have been detained so far. To limit access to the protest, blue barriers were erected.

Earlier in Shanghai, hundreds gathered, holding up blank sheets of paper in silent protest, while others publicly called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to resign.

Over the weekend, protesters in cities including Wuhan and Lanzhou vandalized COVID-testing facilities. There were also actions on student campuses. Students at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing protested with a poster showing the Friedmann equation. The physicist's name can be translated as "free man".

Protests as a sign of solidarity were also held outside China - in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Toronto, as well as in several cities in the United States, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese state media has been silent on the protests. China's English-language media such as the Global Times and Xinhua News Agency reported on the demonstrations.

The protests began after the fire in the city of Urumqi at the end of last week, in which 10 people died. Firefighters were said to have been unable to reach the apartment due to the blocked-off parts of the city, and they are blocked due to an anti-epidemic measure in China. Authorities in Beijing denied that this was the cause of the incident.

China reports for the fifth consecutive day a record number of newly infected with COVID-19, reported Reuters. On Sunday, the new cases were 40,347, of which 36,525 were asymptomatic and 3,722 with symptoms of the disease, according to the National Health Committee data released on Monday. A day earlier, the newly infected were 39,791.

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