From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernice and this is The Daily.

In China over the weekend, thousands of people gathered in cities across the country demanding

an end to COVID restrictions.

It was the most extensive series of protests since the failed Pro Democracy Movement in 1989.

My colleague Vivian Wong went to one in Beijing.

Today, I talked to Vivian about what she saw there and what it means for China's leader,

Xi Jinping and his unwavering quest for zero COVID.

It's Wednesday, November 30.

Vivian, tell us what's happening in China right now.

Over the weekend, we saw demonstrations in at least 18 cities with people calling for an

end to zero COVID, which is the Chinese government's policy of trying to eliminate coronavirus

infections through whatever it takes, including really severe quarantined lockdowns.

And it has been astonishing to see because you just don't see protests like this in China.

And Vivian, when did we see the protests begin?

Start that story for me.

What happened?

So on Thursday night, a fire broke out in the city of Arun Chi in western China in the Xinjiang

region.

And officially 10 people died.

And officials have said that the deaths were not because of COVID restrictions.

But there has been a lot of suspicion and speculation online that in fact, COVID lockdowns

did play a role because Arun Chi has been under lockdown for over three months.

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