Protests have erupted across China with demonstrators chanting, “Xi Jinping, step down” and “Communist party, step down” in a rare show of public defiance. Tensions started boiling over last week after a deadly apartment building fire left 10 people dead and at least 9 injured in the western Xinjiang region. Many blamed the country’s stringent COVID restrictions, which have been in place for nearly 3 years, saying it delayed firefighters from reaching victims and stopped people from escaping. Local officials have denied the allegations. In Shanghai yesterday, there were reports police officers beat protestors and used pepper spray to squash demonstrations. Despite increasing opposition to Beijing’s tough stance on COVID and its increasing threats to overseas territories, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. It comes after her strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance against China failed to win public support over the weekend.