China’s Covid policy didn’t have to end in riot and protest. This is why it did | Stephen Reicher

All states deny and suppress protests, but the government faces a rapid spread of public anger centred on a galvanising tragedy

• Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews

On Thursday 24 November, a fire broke out on the 15th floor of an apartment block in Urumqi, capital of the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. At least 10 people died, all from the minority Uyghur community. Outrage grew at the fact that the deaths were entirely avoidable, caused by China's draconian Covid lockdown policy. Some of the victims were sealed in their flats; the building's fire exits were locked; fire engines were delayed by Covid barriers. Demonstrations and vigils in response soon spread across the country.

Ten days later, after initially denying the tragedy had anything to do with its Covid policies and seeking to suppress all news of the protests, the seemingly immovable Chinese Communist party cracked. President Xi Jingping acknowledged the protesters and began to moderate China's lockdown policies. So why did the deaths of 10 Uyghurs generate such a powerful reaction? What do these 10 days that shook the party tell us about the nature of protest and of Chinese society?

Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a fellow of the British Academy