HONG KONG — Protests against China’s strict zero-Covid policy and restrictions on freedoms have spread to at least a dozen cities around the world in a show of solidarity with rare displays of defiance in China over the weekend. Expatriate dissidents and students staged small-scale vigils and protests in cities around the world including London, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, according to a Reuters tally. In most cases, dozens of people attended the protests, though a few drew more than 100, the tally showed. The protests on the mainland were set off by a fire in China’s Xinjiang region last week that killed 10 people who were trapped in their apartments. It has been common in recent years for overseas Chinese students to rally in support of their government against its critics, but anti-government protests have been rare.

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