Chinese censors have taken the extreme step of restricting the search term “Beijing” on social media, after a rare public denouncement of President Xi Jinping days before his highly anticipated crowning moment in the capital.

Two banners were unfurled from the Sitong Bridge, in northwestern Beijing, on Thursday, blasting Xi and his strict Covid Zero policy of lockdowns and mass testing. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed smoke rising from a fire behind the handwritten slogans, which were soon after removed by authorities.

“We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns and controls. We want respect, not lies,” one banner said. It also called for elections instead of having a “lingxiu,” a title meaning “leader” that was previously reserved for Mao Zedong but has recently also been associated with Xi. The second banner called for a boycott of schools and strikes.

By Friday, most references to the event had been scrubbed from China’s heavily censored internet. Restricted terms on the country’s major social media platforms had grown from “Sitong Bridge” and “brave man” on Thursday to include words as vague as “bridge” and “courage” by Friday. The name of a person speculated to have been involved with the banners was among the censored words.

On China’s Twitter-like Weibo, even the term “Beijing” had been heavily restricted, with search results limited to posts from verified accounts, which usually belong to state media or government agencies. That move coincides with the capital hosting China’s most important political event in five years from Sunday. The banners were unfurled on the day delegates began to arrive in the capital for that event.

The Beijing city government’s news office didn’t respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Teng Biao, a New Jersey-based Chinese lawyer and human-rights activist, called the protest an act of “extreme bravery.” “It’s a signal that so many people are not happy under the new dictator Xi Jinping,” he said. “He will see it as a big humiliation. He cannot cover it up.”

The protest, in broad daylight in full view of surveillance cameras, represents an embarrassing public outburst against Xi days before he outlines his vision for China at the Communist Party congress, at which he’s expected to secure a precedent-defying third term. Chinese officials go to great lengths to portray unity and restrict any signs of dissent ahead of the event, bolstering security across the capital.

There have been sporadic displays against Xi in recent years, however, as he tightens his grip on the nation. In 2018, a woman splashed ink on a billboard featuring the Chinese leader, saying she opposed his “tyranny.” She was later admitted to a psychiatric facility.

On Weibo and messaging app WeChat users complained Friday that their accounts had been deleted or suspended from posting content after sharing photos of the protest.

One Twitter user wrote: “Posted ‘I saw it!’ on Weibo and got suspended for 60 days.” Another said: “A few friends had their WeChat accounts suspended after posting photos and videos of Sitong Bridge.” The user added that his friends’ Douban accounts had also been suspended for 14 days for merely complaining about censorship without even mentioning the protest, referring to one lesser-known Chinese platform.

QQ Music on Friday was no longer carrying a song called Sitong Bridge, by Beijing band Mr. Graceless, which lamented the vagaries of life. Search results for songs including The Brave One, by Taiwanese indie rock band No Party For Cao Dong and Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s new track Warrior of the Darkness were also restricted.

Chinese internet users begun a game of cat and mouse with censors, posting cryptic messages seemingly in reference to the event. Some on Friday had adopted a Mao-era saying, which they posted without context: “A bit of spark can start a prairie fire.”

(Bloomberg)

Today, a 'reactionary slogan' was displayed on the bridge near the Zhongdian Information Building in Haidian, Beijing: 'Don't need nucleic acid, you need to eat, don't be banned, you need freedom, don't lie, you need dignity, you don't need the Cultural Revolution, you need reform, you don't need a leader, you need votes, and you don't need to be a slave to be a citizen.' . On the occasion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it will be investigated as a major case. (@fangshimin on Twitter)

China censors word "Beijing” after rare protest in city