BEIJING: The death of a whistleblowing doctor whose early warnings about China’s new coronavirus outbreak were suppressed by the police has unleashed a wave of anger at the government’s handling of the crisis – and bold demands for more freedom.
Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was among eight physicians who sounded the alarm about the virus in late December, only to be reprimanded and censored by the authorities in central Hubei province.
After Li’s death was confirmed early Friday, the 34-year-old doctor was lionised as a hero on social media, while officials were vilified for letting the epidemic spiral into a national health crisis instead of listening to the doctor.
But many also used the occasion to demand more liberties in the Communist Party-ruled country, with the hashtags “I want freedom of speech” and “we demand freedom of speech” appearing on Twitter-like Weibo before being censored.
“Chinese people are only allowed one kind of freedom, and that is the freedom given by the country and the Communist Party,” commented one Weibo user.
“But clearly it is us who should be the masters of this country’s laws.”
Local authorities in Hubei and its capital Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the crisis, had already faced rare, uncensored criticism online in recent weeks for initially downplayin
