On 24 November 2022, a fire broke out in a residential high-rise in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. Ten people were killed and an additional nine were injured. Journalists raised questions that China's strict enforcement of the zero-COVID policy prevented residents from leaving the building, or interfered with the efforts of firefighters. Authorities denied these claims. The fire was seen by observers as a trigger of protests in several cities across China over the following days, which targeted the zero-COVID policy but in several instances also called for an end to the Chinese Communist Party rule and for its leader Xi Jinping to step down.
Background
Ürümqi is the capital
city of Xinjiang, home to the Uyghur population. Since August 2022, COVID-19 has spread to many
parts of Xinjiang, and the local government had formulated several epidemic
prevention policies in response, such as lockdowns and mandatory testing.
Before the fire, the Jixiangyuan community was designated as a "low-risk
area", and residents could go out for one to two hours each day while
having to stay at home for the rest. It was unclear whether people were allowed
to leave their compounds.
Fire
On 24 November 2022, at
around 7:49 p.m. (11:49 a.m. GMT) a fire broke out on the 15th floor
of a 21-story apartment building known as Jixiangyuan community building 8,
unit 2, room 1502.
An investigation
discovered that resident Ayshem Memeteli (Chinese: 阿依仙木·買買提艾力) was steam showering in the bathroom, which tripped
the circuit breaker. After Ayshem reset
the breaker, her daughter noticed sparks from an electronic socket. A power
strip was also involved. After some firefighting efforts with community worker
Deng Mingxing (Chinese: 鄧明星) and neighbors from the 14th floor, the fire spread
out of control. They notified the 119 fire department and evacuated to the
ground floor. Officials said that a
fireproof door on the 15th floor had been left open, which allowed the spread
of the fire.
During the fire,
epidemic prevention workers were unable to break down fences and barriers in
time, and cars parked in the Jixiangyuan community blocked the fire trucks.
Video footage posted to social media shows firetrucks unable to get close to
the building and water from hoses unable to reach the structure fully. Other
posted videos were reported to have recorded the screams of those trapped in
the fire.
According to the local
newspaper Xinjiang Daily, the Jixiangyuan community (Chinese: 吉祥苑小区), where the accident happened, lacked sufficient
roadway for fire engines to pass, as a critical rescue passageway was blocked
by fences and bollards for COVID crowd control and contact tracing measures.
The fire was
extinguished 3 hours later, around 10:35 p.m. (2:35 p.m. GMT), killed
10 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured nine, according to
authorities.
Aftermath
After the fire, vigils
and protests were held in Xinjiang, Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing, criticizing
the Chinese government's zero-COVID policy, with some calling on CCP leader Xi
Jinping to resign. Members of the public
criticized the government's excessive epidemic prevention laws, which they
suspect prevented firefighters from arriving at the scene.
In the former French
Concession neighborhood of Shanghai, protesters mourned the victims. They
called for an end to the zero-COVID policy and for the ruling CCP and its general
secretary Xi Jinping to step down.
In Beijing and Nanjing,
protesters held up blank pieces of paper to mourn the victims of the fire as
well as criticize the censorship of their government. Protests also occurred at universities and
colleges such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Sun Yat-sen
University.
Response by Chinese
Government
Ürümqi mayor Memtimin
Qadir apologized to the city's residents on the evening of 25 November
during a press conference, and promised an investigation.
Li Wensheng, head of
the Urumqi City Fire Rescue Department, said that some residents' abilities to
rescue themselves were "too weak" and that they had "failed to
escape in time". Political
scientist Dali Yang from the University of Chicago proposed that the comments
by authorities on residents having been able to go downstairs and escape may
have further fuelled public anger for having been perceived as victim blaming. On 27 November 2022, Xinjiang officials
promised to ease the lockdown measures without acknowledging the existence of
the protest.
Response by the Uyghur Emigrant Community
Washington-based Uyghur
academic Tahir Imin told The New York Times that the fire
department response was terrible, and the fire wasn't under control for three
hours despite having available facilities and equipment.
Abdulhafiz Maimaitimin,
an Uyghur exile living in Switzerland, told journalists his aunt Qemernisa
Abdurahman (also transliterated as Haiernishahan Abdureheman) and four family
members in China were not rescued in time due to living in an Uyghur-majority
neighborhood. They also raised concerns that the number of victims was being
underreported by Chinese officials.
Merhaba Muhammad, an
Uyghur emigrant living in Turkey, is also a relative of Abdurahman. She told Newsweek that she
lost contact with her family in 2016, after she left Xinjiang for international
study. She claimed more than 44 people had died in the fire, citing her social
media circles. She also emphasized that the local fire department did not
prioritize saving Uyghurs.
Mohammad and Sharapat
Mohammad Ali, also relatives of Abdurahman, expressed their grief over the
accident.
See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_fire
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