Emboldened China Protesters Test Xi’s Resolve After Covid Pivot
- Chinese people find new power to speak up after demonstrations
- Authorities on alert for trouble over biggest holiday of year
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Even before millions of Chinese citizens started heading back to their home villages for Lunar New Year, tensions were brewing across the nation over annual bans on fireworks.
Unrest boiled over in early January, when residents of a central Chinese city flipped over a police car during a heated altercation with law enforcement over the right to set off fireworks, a traditional practice to banish bad luck and usher in a new year. While people usually complain about the curbs, the response this year was unusually violent.