A Chinese girl has been pictured defiantly standing up to baton wielding police as people protest against the zero Covid strategy and repression.
She has now been dubbed the “tank lady” in reference to the iconic images of the Chinese man who stood in front of a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square holding bags in each hand during the 1989 uprising in Beijing that was brutally repressed.
Over 30 years later and demonstrators have been pouring onto the streets in cities including Shanghai and Beijing, criticising the zero Covid policy, confronting police - and even calling for leader Xi Jinping to step down.
And one girl was seen standing bravely in front of police filming with her camera before they pushed her and then they appeared to carry her away.
It is not clear what happened later as the cameraman was forced to stop recording by the Chinese law enforcement.
The footage was shared by journalist Yashar Ali who tweeted: “Watch this brave woman stand strong and continue to film the abuses of Chinese government security forces.
“She then gets beaten herself! While we support the people of Iran, we must also support the brave people of China as they take on the totalitarian CCP!"
Many protesters have been waving blank sheets of paper as they seek changes to the censorship and the demonstrations are now being called the “white paper revolution”.
The widespread demonstrations are unprecedented since the army crushed the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Most protesters focused their anger on restrictions that can confine families to their homes for months and have been criticized as neither scientific nor effective. Some complained the system is failing to respond to their needs.
The cries for the resignation of Xi and the end of the Communist Party that has ruled China for 73 years could be deemed sedition, which is punishable by prison.
In response, police in Shanghai used pepper spray to drive away demonstrators, and dozens were detained in police sweeps and taken away in police vans and buses. China's vast internal security apparatus is also famed for identifying people it considers troublemakers and picking them up later when few are watching.
Government censors have scrubbed the internet of videos and messages supporting them. And analysts say unless divisions emerge, the Communist Party should be able to contain the dissent.
