Recent protests in China do not yet pose a threat to the Communist Party regime, but Beijing's reaction will include requiring enforcement of existing COVID-19 restrictions, mass arrests of protesters without a military crackdown, and knee-jerk reactions to foreign pressure, suggesting no significant easing of China's "zero-COVID" restrictions and, subsequently, its economic woes. Protests erupted in cities across China from Nov. 25-27, though they have largely abated as of Nov. 28, according to videos posted on China's Weibo and U.S. platform Twitter. These occurred after local authorities said Nov. 25 that at least 10 residents died in an apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province. Citizens across China blamed these deaths on the inability of fire and rescue services to access the building due to COVID-19 restrictions.