NEW DELHI: “Detentions as China seeks to end widespread Covid protests,” screamed the BBC headline.
CNN carried the news as its lead story with the title “Rare protests spread across China.”
“China tightens security after rare protests against Covid curbs,” was the headline on Reuters frontpage.
The news about protests triggered by Covid curbs in the Chinese mainland featured prominently on almost every major international news platform on Monday evening (Indian time).
Except- and rather unsurprisingly- on the ones based in the place where it’s all happening.

Chinese news outlets were completely silent on anti-lockdown protests in Urumqi, Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere, where people have come out in large numbers, demanding an end to the Covid lockdown.
In a rare show of dissent, protesters in large numbers confronted police on the streets and even raised slogans against President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party.
The CPC-backed Global Times at 7:30pm (IST) had Taiwan local elections and China’s space mission among its top stories, apart from some others belittling the West on a multitude of issues.
The only Covid-related story on the frontpage spoke of measures put in place in China, and had an expert’s opinion on what might be the best steps to take here on.
See for yourself what result the site returned for the search words “beijing protest” :

The China Daily, another CCP mouthpiece, was no different.
It did have a couple of Covid stories on top though, headlined “Expert: Home quarantine not workable yet,” and “Pandemic not completely over, Fauci says.”
But protests and anti-Xi chants? None!

That is not unexpected though, given China’s dismal track record vis-a-vis freedom of press. News and information, specially if it portrays the CCP and the government in a bad light, are ruthlessly censored. Journalists seen as behind such news are subjected to punitive actions- even foreign media persons are not spared.
The BBC said one of its journalist was beaten and briefly arrested in Shanghai while covering the current wave of protests.
China’s global image is taking another beating, as the protests have now spread to at least a dozen cities around the world in a show of solidarity with rare displays of defiance in China over the weekend.
Expatriate dissidents and students staged small-scale vigils and protests in cities in Europe, Asia and North America, including London, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, according to a Reuters tally.
Chinese internet users and government censors are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game to control the narrative around the country’s anti- “zero COVID” protests, the ANI reported quoting another source.
Videos and photographs of the protests quickly circulated on Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, where they received tens of thousands of views before being deleted by government censors, it said.
The acts of defiance shared online included scenes of people tearing down barricades, calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, and holding up blank white pieces of paper as a symbol of protest.
By Monday, Chinese social media appeared to have scrubbed searches for protest hotspots like “Xinjiang” and “Beijing.”
The battle is on in cyberspace and on the ground.
Large crowds gathered Sunday in Beijing and Shanghai, where police clashed with protesters as they tried to stop groups from converging at Wulumuqi street.
Protesters have also used the rallies to call for greater freedoms. Some have even demanded the resignation of President Xi, recently re-appointed to a historic third term as China’s leader.
A planned protest in the capital Beijing later on Monday came to nothing as several dozen police officers and vans choked a crossroad near the assembly point in western Haidian district.
China is the last country in the world sticking to a “zero-COVID” policy aimed at stamping out flare-ups of the virus at almost any cost. The strategy, which relies on lockdowns, border controls and mass testing, has kept cases and deaths low compared with elsewhere but inflicted serious economic and social costs.
(With agency inputs)

UDUPI: An assistant professor of a Karnataka college has been debarred from taking classes, pending inquiry, after a video showing a student arguing with the professor in a classroom, for allegedly calling him by the name of a terrorist went viral.
In a tweet on Monday, the college authorities stated that “the concerned staff has been debarred from classes till the inquiry is over”.

In the viral video, an engineering student is seen questioning his professor. The professor is also heard apologizing to the student.
In a tweet, the institute stated that the institute has already initiated an inquiry into the incident.
“We would like everyone to know that the institute does not condone this kind of behaviour and this isolated incident will be dealt with in accordance with the laid down policy. The Institute prides itself on one of the biggest diversity on campus and is committed to uphold our constitutional values of treating everyone alike, irrespective of their caste, religion, region, gender etc.,” the institute stated in its tweet.
In the video, the professor is seen trying to pacify the student, but the latter counters by saying, “being a Muslim in this country and facing all these every day is not funny. Will you talk to your son like that? Will you call him by the name of a terrorist? How can you call me like that in front of so many people? You can’t call me that”.
A message purportedly shared by the student after the incident reads: “Hello everyone, All of you must have seen a video going viral where a student is telling his teacher that racist comments are not acceptable. The reason behind this was him calling me by an unacceptable name, “Kasaab“, one of the biggest terrorists this country has ever seen. It was a joke, which can not be considered a valid enough reason to question the identity of a human being. However, I had a conversation with the lecturer and realized that he genuinely meant that apology, and we as a student community must let it go as a genuine mistake. I understand what was happening in his head behind this and would like to believe he didn’t mean it. It came across wrong from a teacher, a person we admire, but it can be ignored this time. Thank you for standing with me through this. It means a lot. Regards”.