Brazen protests have erupted across China — including in the country’s biggest city Shanghai — as simmering frustrations over the zero-COVID policy boil over into defiance.

While much of the world has moved on from strict lockdowns, China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed not to swerve from stamping out the virus — three years into the pandemic.

In a rare display of public anger, thousands of people have taken to the streets chanting “Xi Jinping, step down” and “Communist party, step down”.

Some held blank pieces of paper as a symbol of censorship and white flowers which signify warning.

Students were also demonstrating in the major citiies of Beijing and Nanjing over the weekend.

China observers said the protests were unprecedented under Mr Xi, who recently secured an unprecedented third term as leader of the Communist Party, and could lead to harsh reprisals.

People on the streets of Shanghai in a rare show of anger. Photo: Getty

The latest outbursts follow a protest in the remote north-west city of Urumqi where the deaths of 10 people in a tower block fire have been blamed on lockdown rules.

Many internet users surmised residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down — a claim city officials denied.

In Shanghai, China’s most populous city and financial hub, residents gathered at Wulumuqi Road — which borrows its name from Urumqi — for a vigil that turned into a protest.

“Lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!” crowds shouted, according to a video circulated on social media.

At one point a large group began shouting, “Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping, free Urumqi!”, according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest against the Chinese leadership.

A large group of police looked on and sometimes tried to break up the crowd.

Police officers block Wulumuqi street, named for Urumqi in Mandarin, in Shanghai. Photo: Getty

China is battling a surge in infections that has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions in cities across the country as Beijing adheres to a zero-COVID policy even as much of the world tries to coexist with the virus.

China defends the zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system.

Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world’s second-biggest economy.

Videos from Shanghai widely shared on Chinese social media showed crowds facing dozens of police and calling out chants including “serve the people”, “we don’t want health codes” and “we want freedom”.

Protesters were bundles into police vehicles. Photo: Getty

Some social media users posted screenshots of street signs for Wulumuqi Road, both to evade censors and show support for protesters in Shanghai.

Others shared comments or posts calling for all of “you brave young people” to be careful.

Many included advice on what to do if police came or started arresting people during a protest or vigil.

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Shanghai’s 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, an ordeal that provoked anger and protest.

Chinese authorities have since sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, but that effort has been challenged by a surge in infections as China faces its first winter with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

While low by global standards, China’s case numbers have hit record highs for days, with almost 40,000 new infections reported by health authorities on Sunday for the previous day.

Some residents under lockdown in Beijing staged small protests or confronted local officials on Saturday over movement restrictions, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting the curbs ahead of schedule.

A video shared with Reuters showed Beijing residents in an unidentifiable part of the capital marching around an open-air car park on Saturday, shouting “end the lockdown”.