'People started to cite the constitution of China: "Citizens of People's Republic of China have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of press."
The hashtag "We Want Freedom of Speech" soon surged and attracted millions of searches and posts.
After this hashtag was censored, "We Demand Freedom of Speech" became the most popular topic.''Soon, the anger that had been focused on Dr Li's death morphed into something much larger: an unhapiness about the lack of freedom of speech in China.
People started to cite the constitution of China: "Citizens of People's Republic of China have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of press."
The hashtag "We Want Freedom of Speech" soon surged and attracted millions of searches and posts.
After this hashtag was censored, "We Demand Freedom of Speech" became the most popular topic.
"Do not persuade me to be afraid of losing my account, and I hope you are not, either," one user on Weibo, referring to the typical action censors take to delete the account if they find the posts too sensitive. "Fear is exactly what they want."
A top comment replied with a photo shot during the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square protest - the photo features a banner that says: "We will not fall! We will not let the executioners look tall and stop the wind of freedom from blowing."
Some others were even creating Telegram groups to ride the wave and organise civil society, in the hope of mobilising the entire country to demand the basic political rights, which they said the Communist Party has denied them.'
- Al Jazeera,
Grief, anger in China as doctor who warned about coronavirus dies, February 7, 2020
Context(BBC) - 'The death of Dr Li Wenliang .. China's command and control system of governance under Xi Jinping .. [that] structure is obviously broken.'(CNN) - '..Li's death .. Multiple state media outlets reported Li's death late Thursday night .. only to subsequently delete them without explanation.'