People protesting against China's strict Covid lockdowns returned to the streets of Shanghai despite being forcibly removed by police using pepper spray only a few hours earlier.

In what Amnesty International described as a move of "remarkable bravery", people objecting to the continued confinement of millions of people for weeks at a time gathered again at the same spot.

One said Beijing's Covid policy was a "game", while another demanded "basic human rights".

Their anger was ignited by a fire in the city of Urumqi on Thursday which killed at least 10 people.

It is feared residents were unable to escape from a tower block engulfed in flames because of President Xi Jinping's continuing zero Covid policy.

There were protests in Urumqi on Friday night when a vigil for fire victims turned into an anti-lockdown demonstration.

Protesters held up blank sheets of paper as an expression of their anger, while some called on the Communist Party to step down.

The protests have spread to about 50 universities, according to the AP news agency.

Many Chinese cities have been under strict lockdown for months - many of Urumqi's four million residents, for example, have been unable to leave their homes for any reason since August.

Officials deny that the deaths were caused by the lockdown policy. A fire department spokesperson inspired further anger after appearing to blame residents for not being able to "rescue themselves".

But protesters were scathing. "We just want our basic human rights," said one in Shanghai who did not want to be identified.

"We can't leave our homes without getting a test. It was the accident in Urumqi that pushed people too far."

In Beijing, a group chanted: "We don't want masks, we want freedom."

Amnesty International UK said: "The tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China. It is virtually impossible for people in China to protest peacefully without facing harassment and prosecution. These unprecedented protests show that people are at the end of their tolerance for excessive Covid-19 restrictions."

In Shanghai, in videos shared on social media, protesters were seen chanting slogans including "Xi Jinping, step down, Communist Party, step down", "Unlock Xinjiang, unlock China", "do not want PCR (tests), want freedom" and "press freedom".

Reuters reported it had seen a video showing Beijing residents in an unidentified part of the city marching around an open-air car park on Saturday, shouting "end the lockdown".

People chanted "open up, open up" in videos that were shared on social media before being deleted by censors on Saturday.

But the protesters won some concessions, with parts of the city deemed low risk being given a bit more freedom from restrictions during the weekend.

Protests against government policy are rare in China but even more unusual in Xinjiang. The province, home to China's persecuted Uyghur minority, has experienced some of the country's longest lockdown restrictions, with reports of people left starving earlier in the year.

China's zero-Covid policy was initially well-received by citizens, who saw it as minimising deaths while other countries were battling huge casualties.

But support has fallen in recent months as Chinese people tire of restrictions that go far beyond what was seen during the UK's lockdown, for example.

China is the only major country that is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with mass testing and strict lockdowns.

Sky News