Shanghai's Covid lockdown risks becoming biggest crisis of Xi's tenure

Pets beaten to death. Parents forced to separate from their children. Elderly folks unable to access medical care. Locked-up residents chanting “we want to eat” and “we want freedom.”

As much of the world moves on from the pandemic, the desperate scenes seeping out of China’s most global city have shocked even citizens who were once staunch supporters of President Xi Jinping’s Covid Zero strategy to eliminate the virus. The struggle to obtain daily necessities like food and medical care has triggered rare pushback from residents, with some saying the Communist Party’s cure is worse than the disease.

“In this country it’s