A HEROIC protester has vanished after unfurling banners over a motorway branding Xi Jinping a “traitor-dictator” and “thief”.
The demonstrator – widely named on social media as Peng Lifa – has been hailed as the “new tank man” and his rare and dramatic protest comes as Xi prepares to be appointed for a third term.
Many have compared him to the lone man in the iconic photograph standing in front of a tank following the Tiananmen Square massacre of protesters demanding democracy.
Video showed the banner unfurled over the Sitong bridge in Beijing which also denounced China’s strict Covid lockdown, that continues to be enforced despite widespread anger.
Disguised as a construction worker to evade the authorities, photos of the banners were widely shared before police swooped to take him away.
He was seen being bundled into a police car and has not been seen since, human rights activists say.
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His banners denounced Xi in stark terms and called for his overthrow.
“Students strike, workers strike, remove the dictator and state thief Xi Jinping,” one banner declared.
Another said: “We want to eat, not do coronavirus tests; reform, not the Cultural Revolution.
"We want freedom, not lockdowns; elections, not rulers. We want dignity, not lies. Be citizens, not enslaved people.”
Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the protests, hailed Peng "the new Tank Man".
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“This isn't the first time someone has come forward, and it won't be the last,” he said.
According to the pro-democracy Instagram account VoiceofCN, Peng’s message has since popped up in at least eight Chinese cities, Bloomberg reports.
They include Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, as well as in Hong Kong.
The protest was seen by countless Beijing residents who filmed and photographed the it before sharing it online.
But soon ruling party's huge and well-oiled censorship machine swung into action.
Keywords and accounts linked to the protest were rapidly deleted from China's tightly controlled social media platforms.
Searches for "Haidian" the district where the banners appeared, and "hero" were all blocked.
There were also reports social media users who talked about the incident were getting their accounts shut down.
The 20th congress of the Chinese Communist Party meeting in Beijing is set to hand Xi a third five-year term in office, setting him to be "president for life".
Dr Alexander Korolev, from the University of New South Wales, said the ‘Zero Covid’ policy was causing anger in China.
“Chinese authorities are very quick and effective in terms of suppressing protests by reacting very quickly and killing everything before it develops into anything bigger,” he said.
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“But China has been in this absolutely crazy Covid-19 lockdown which is absolutely ascientific.
“The Covid Zero policy is lunacy – it’s not possible for a country of that size to achieve Covid Zero.”
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