Senin, 09 Januari 2023

White House under pressure to expel Jair Bolsonaro after Brazil riots - Financial Times

Joe Biden condemned violent riots in Brazil as the White House faced calls from Congress to expel Jair Bolsonaro, the Latin American country’s former president, from the US, where he has been staying since leaving office.

“Canada, Mexico, and the United States condemn the January 8 attacks on Brazil’s democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power,” the US president said in a joint statement on Monday with Mexico’s leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

They added: “We stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions. Our governments support the free will of the people of Brazil.”

Bolsonaro, who faces investigations from his time as president including into allegations of spreading election misinformation, has been staying in self-imposed exile in Florida for about two weeks. He was admitted to hospital for observation due to “abdominal discomfort”, his wife, Michelle, posted on social media on Monday. “We are praying for his health and for Brazil.” 

Several Democratic lawmakers have called for the former Brazilian president to be removed from the US. The questions come after his supporters on Sunday raided the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace in riots that bore a striking resemblance to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

“The US should not be a refuge for this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil,” Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said on CNN. “He should be sent back to Brazil.”

Prominent progressive lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called for Bolsonaro to be returned to Brazil. “We must stand in solidarity with @LulaOficial’s democratically elected government,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday, referring to the country’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”

Republicans have not joined calls for Bolsonaro’s deportation, although a handful have condemned the protests, including Florida senator Rick Scott and the disgraced Republican congressman George Santos, whose parents were born in Brazil.

Brazilian politicians on Monday also joined calls to bring Bolsonaro back to the country. Renan Calheiros, a prominent senator, asked Brazil’s supreme court for the “immediate” extradition of the former president, saying his involvement in the riots on Sunday was “undeniable”.

The court will consider the request, which called for Bolsonaro to be returned to Brazil within 72 hours.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US had not gotten any official requests from Brazil’s government about Bolsonaro’s status in the country, but added that if it did, “we’d treat them seriously”.

He declined to speak about Bolsonaro’s specific immigration status, citing a policy of avoiding specifics about individual visa cases.

Biden and Lula spoke by telephone on Monday, and the Brazilian leader accepted a US invitation to the White House in early February, according to a readout from Washington. Biden expressed the US’s “unwavering support . . . for Brazil’s democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent presidential election, which President Lula won”.

On Sunday evening Bolsonaro had tried to distance himself from radical supporters. The former army captain said the attacks, which damaged government property and artwork, had “crossed the line”.

While the US State Department declined to comment specifically on Bolsonaro’s visa or his status in the US, spokesman Ned Price said Monday that foreign leaders or diplomats who have entered the country on a diplomatic visa known as an A visa have 30 days to leave the US or seek an updated visa if they are no longer conducting official business.

“If an A visa holder is no longer engaged in official business on behalf of their government, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart the US or to request a change to another immigration status within 30 days,” Price said.

“If an individual has no basis on which to be in the United States, an individual is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security,” he added.

A former senior US official who worked on immigration issues said Bolsonaro probably travelled to the US on an existing visa, which may have been for diplomatic or tourism purposes.

He argued it would not be straightforward for the US government to remove Bolsonaro. “It is not easy legally to remove somebody from the US who’s not willing to go. They often have significant protection once they are physically in the US.”

He added that it could be possible for Bolsonaro to remain in the country in a new capacity, for instance if he found other employment.

In any case, any removal action “could be a protracted, multiyear effort”, the former official said. “It would not be a rapid process.”

Under US immigration laws, an individual may be deported if the secretary of state finds them to be harmful to US foreign policy. “The question is whether the secretary of state is going to do that,” he said.

Additional reporting by Michael Pooler

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2023-01-09 22:38:31Z
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White House under pressure to expel Jair Bolsonaro after Brazil riots - Financial Times

Joe Biden condemned violent riots in Brazil as the White House faced calls from Congress to expel Jair Bolsonaro, the Latin American country’s former president, from the US, where he has been staying since leaving office.

“Canada, Mexico, and the United States condemn the January 8 attacks on Brazil’s democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power,” the US president said in a joint statement on Monday with Mexico’s leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

They added: “We stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions. Our governments support the free will of the people of Brazil.”

Bolsonaro, who faces investigations from his time as president, has been staying in self-imposed exile in Florida for about two weeks. He was admitted to hospital for observation due to “abdominal discomfort”, his wife, Michelle, posted on social media on Monday. “We are praying for his health and for Brazil.” 

Several Democratic lawmakers have called for the former Brazilian president to be removed from the US. The questions come after his supporters on Sunday raided the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace in riots that bore a striking resemblance to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

“The US should not be a refuge for this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil,” Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said on CNN. “He should be sent back to Brazil.”

Prominent progressive lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called for Bolsonaro to be returned to Brazil. “We must stand in solidarity with @LulaOficial’s democratically elected government,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday, referring to the country’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”

Republicans have not joined calls for Bolsonaro’s deportation, although a handful have condemned the protests, including Florida senator Rick Scott and the disgraced Republican congressman George Santos, whose parents were born in Brazil.

Brazilian politicians on Monday also joined calls to bring Bolsonaro back to the country. Renan Calheiros, a prominent senator, asked Brazil’s supreme court for the “immediate” extradition of the former president, saying his involvement in the riots on Sunday was “undeniable”.

The court will consider the request, which called for Bolsonaro to be returned to Brazil within 72 hours.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US had not gotten any official requests from Brazil’s government about Bolsonaro’s status in the country, but added that if it did, “we’d treat them seriously”.

He declined to speak about Bolsonaro’s specific immigration status, citing a policy of avoiding specifics about individual visa cases.

Sullivan said he expects Biden will speak with Lula in the coming days.

On Sunday evening Bolsonaro had tried to distance himself from radical supporters. The former army captain said the attacks, which damaged government property and artwork, had “crossed the line”.

While the US State Department declined to comment specifically on Bolsonaro’s visa or his status in the US, spokesman Ned Price said Monday that foreign leaders or diplomats who have entered the country on a diplomatic visa known as an A visa have 30 days to leave the US or seek an updated visa if they are no longer conducting official business.

“If an A visa holder is no longer engaged in official business on behalf of their government, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart the US or to request a change to another immigration status within 30 days,” Price said.

“If an individual has no basis on which to be in the United States, an individual is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security,” he added.

A former senior US official who worked on immigration issues said Bolsonaro probably travelled to the US on an existing visa, which may have been for diplomatic or tourism purposes.

He argued it would not be straightforward for the US government to remove Bolsonaro. “It is not easy legally to remove somebody from the US who’s not willing to go. They often have significant protection once they are physically in the US,.”

He added that it could be possible for Bolsonaro to remain in the country in a new capacity, for instance if he found other employment.

In any case, any removal action “could be a protracted, multiyear effort”, the former official said. “It would not be a rapid process.”

Under US immigration laws, an individual may be deported if the secretary of state finds them to be harmful to US foreign policy. “The question is whether the secretary of state is going to do that,” he said.

Additional reporting by Michael Pooler

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2023-01-09 19:30:59Z
1728797049

Vatican reopens investigation into missing teenager after Netflix documentary - Sky News

The Vatican has reopened an investigation into the disappearance of the 15-year-old daughter of an employee in 1983 - months after a Netflix documentary shed fresh light on the case.

Just weeks ago, her family once again asked the Italian Parliament to take up the cause, and now Vatican prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, has opened a file on Emanuela Orlandi's disappearance.

The case has been reopened, in part, based "on the requests made by the family in various places", Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

A lawyer for the Orlandi family, Laura Sgro, said she had no independent confirmation of the development, which was first reported by Italian news agencies Adnkronos, LaPresse and Ansa.

She said her last Vatican filing on the case came in 2019.

Emanuela Orlandi vanished on 22 June 1983 after leaving her family's apartment in Vatican City to attend a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See.

Her disappearance has been one of the Vatican's most enduring mysteries in recent years and, over time, has been linked to the plot to kill St John Paul II, a financial scandal involving the Vatican bank and Rome's criminal underworld.

In 2019 the family thought they may have located her remains after bones were discovered in in the tombs of two 19th-century German princesses.

However, an investigation concluded that the remains were too old to belong to Ms Orlandi.

The recent four-part Netflix documentary Vatican Girl explored those scenarios and provided new evidence from a friend who said Ms Orlandi had told her a week before she disappeared that a high-ranking Vatican cleric had made sexual advances towards her.

Read more:
The true crime shows that shocked the world

Last month, Ms Sgro and Ms Orlandi's brother Pietro announced a new initiative to convene a parliamentary commission of inquest into the case.

Three previous initiatives in the Italian Parliament have failed to get off the ground, but Ms Sgro and opposition politician Carlo Calenda argued the Vatican could not consider the case closed when so many questions remain unanswered.

Speaking to RaiNews24 on Monday, Pietro Orlandi called it a "positive step" that the Vatican has apparently changed its mind, gotten over its resistance and now will go over the case from the start.

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2023-01-09 19:37:58Z
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Brazil Congress: Lula vows to punish supporters of Bolsonaro after riot - BBC

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Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to punish supporters of the country's ex-leader, Jair Bolsonaro, after they stormed Congress.

Supporters of the ousted far-right leader also stormed the Supreme Court and surrounded the presidential palace.

But police regained control of the buildings in the capital Brasilia on Sunday evening after hours of clashes.

Arriving in the city, Lula toured the Supreme Court building to see the damage for himself.

Brasilia's Civil Police said that 300 people have been arrested.

The city's governor, Ibaneis Rocha, has been removed from his post for 90 days by the Supreme Court. Justice Alexandre de Moraes accused him of failing to prevent the riot and of being "painfully silent" in the face of the attack. Mr Rocha has apologised for Sunday's events.

Pro-democracy rallies are being called by leftist leaders and groups across Brazil.

The dramatic scenes - which saw thousands of protesters clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and flags overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state - come just a week after Lula's inauguration.

The veteran left-wing leader was forced to declare emergency powers before dispatching the national guard into the capital to restore order.

He also ordered the closure of the centre of the capital - including the main avenue where governmental buildings are - for 24 hours.

Satellite image showing the location of the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino said some 40 buses which had been used to transport protesters to the capital had been seized and he called the invasion an "absurd attempt to impose [the protesters'] will by force".

Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly refused to accept that he lost October's election and last week left the country instead of taking part in inaugural ceremonies, which would have seen him hand over the iconic presidential sash.

The 67-year-old - who is believed to be in Florida - condemned the attack and denied responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a post on Twitter some six hours after violence broke out.

Speaking before he arrived in Brasilia, Lula said there was "no precedent in the history of our country" for the scenes in Brasilia and called the violence the "acts of vandals and fascists".

And he took aim at security forces whom he accused of "incompetence, bad faith or malice" for failing to stop demonstrators accessing Congress.

"You will see in the images that they [police officers] are guiding people on the walk to Praca dos Tres Powers," he said. "We are going to find out who the financiers of these vandals who went to Brasilia are and they will all pay with the force of law."

Video shared by the Brazilian outlet O Globo showed some officers laughing and taking photos together as demonstrators occupied the congressional campus in the background.

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Some protesters smashed windows, while others reached the Senate chamber, where they jumped on to seats and used benches as slides.

Videos on social media show protesters pulling a police officer from his horse and attacking him outside the building.

Footage broadcast by national media show police detaining dozens of protesters in their yellow jerseys outside the presidential palace.

Other suspects - whose hands were bound behind their backs - are also seen being led out of the building.

Protesters had been gathering since the morning on the lawns in front of the parliament and up and down the kilometre of the Esplanada avenue, which is lined with government ministries and national monuments.

Despite the actions of the protesters, in the hours before the chaos, security had appeared tight, with the roads closed for about a block around the parliament area and armed police pairs guarding every entrance into the area.

The BBC had seen about 50 police officers around on Sunday morning local time and cars were turned away at entry points, while those entering on foot were frisked by police checking bags.

Vandals inside a room in the presidential palace
Reuters

Demonstrators were quick to defend their actions when approached by reporters.

Lima, a 27-year-old production engineer, said: "We need to re-establish order after this fraudulent election."

"I'm here for history, for my daughters," she told AFP news agency.

Others in the capital expressed outrage at the violence and said the attack marked a sad day for the country.

"I voted for Bolsanaro but I don't agree with what they're doing," Daniel Lacerda, 21, told the BBC. "If you don't agree with the president you should just say it and move on, you shouldn't go hold protests and commit all the violence like they're doing."

And many are drawing comparisons with the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump, an ally of Mr Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro supporters vandalising the interior of the presidential palace
Reuters

Bolsonaro supporters created camps in cities across Brazil, some of them outside the military barracks. That is because his most ardent supporters want the military to intervene and make good elections that they say were stolen.

It looked like their movement had been curbed by Lula's inauguration - the camps in Brasilia had been dismantled and there was no disruption on the day he was sworn in.

But Sunday's scenes show that those predictions were premature.

According to Katy Watson, the BBC's South America correspondent, some protesters aren't just angry that Jair Bolsonaro lost the election - they want President Lula to return to prison. He spent 18 months in jail after being found guilty of corruption in 2017 and his convictions were later annulled, initially he had been sentenced to more than nine years.

Bolsonaro supporters storm the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, 08 January 2023.
EPA

Leaders from Latin America have condemned the violence:

  • Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Brazil had his country's "full support in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy".
  • Colombian President Gustavo Petro said "fascism [had] decided to stage a coup".
  • Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico expressed "full support for President Lula's administration, elected by popular will".

US President Joe Biden tweeted: "I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil's democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined."

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social media that "the violent attacks on democratic institutions are an attack on democracy that cannot be tolerated", while French President Emmanuel Macron said the "will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected". Both have pledged their support to Lula.

"I condemn any attempt to undermine the peaceful transfer of power and the democratic will of the people of Brazil," said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. "President Lula and his government has the United Kingdom's full support, and I look forward to building on our countries' close ties in the years ahead."

A police officer inspects damage at the Supreme Court
Reuters

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2023-01-09 07:54:54Z
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Minggu, 08 Januari 2023

Brazil protests: Lula vows to punish Congress invaders - BBC

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Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to punish supporters of the country's ex-leader, Jair Bolsonaro, after they stormed Congress.

Supporters of the ousted far-right leader also stormed the Supreme Court and surrounded the presidential palace.

But police regained control of the buildings in the capital Brasilia on Sunday evening after hours of clashes.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino told local media that some 200 people had already been arrested.

The dramatic scenes - which saw thousands of protesters clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and flags overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state - come just a week after Lula's inauguration.

The veteran left-wing leader was forced to declare emergency powers before dispatching the national guard into the capital to restore order.

He has also ordered the closure of the centre of the capital - including the main avenue where governmental buildings are - for 24 hours.

Satellite image showing the location of the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace.

Mr Dino said some 40 busses which had been used to transport protesters to the capital had been seized and he called the invasion an "absurd attempt to impose [the protesters'] will by force".

Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly refused to accept that he lost October's election and last week left the country instead of taking part in inaugural ceremonies, which would have seen him hand over the iconic presidential sash.

The 67-year-old - who is believed to be in Florida - condemned the attack and denied responsibility for encouraging the rioters in a post on Twitter some six hours after violence broke out.

Mr da Silva - better known as Lula - said there was "no precedent in the history of our country" for the scenes seen in Brasilia and called the violence the "acts of vandals and fascists".

And he took aim at security forces whom he accused of "incompetence, bad faith or malice" in the failure to stop demonstrators accessing Congress.

"You will see in the images that they [police officers] are guiding people on the walk to Praca dos Tres Powers," he said. "We are going to find out who are the financiers of these vandals who went to Brasilia and they will all pay with the force of law."

Video shared by the Brazilian outlet O Globo showed some officers laughing and taking photos together as demonstrators occupied the congressional campus in the background.

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US President Joe Biden tweeted: "I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil's democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined."

Some protesters smashed windows, while others reached the Senate chamber, where they jumped on to seats and used benches as slides.

Videos on social media show protesters pulling a policeman from his horse and attacking him outside the building.

Footage broadcast by national media show police detaining dozens of protesters in their yellow jerseys outside the presidential palace.

Other suspects - whose hands were bound behind their backs - are also seen being led out of the building.

Protesters had been gathering since morning on the lawns in front of the parliament and up and down the kilometre of the Esplanada avenue, which is lined with government ministries and national monuments.

Police arrest demonstrators outside the Congress building
Reuters

Security had appeared tight, with the roads closed for about a block around the parliament area and armed police pairs guarding every entrance into the area.

The BBC had seen about 50 police officers around on Sunday morning local time and cars were turned away at entry points, while those entering on foot were frisked by police checking bags.

Demonstrators were quick to defend their actions when approached by reporters.

Lima, a 27-year-old production engineer, said: "We need to re-establish order after this fraudulent election."

"I'm here for history, for my daughters," she told AFP news agency.

But others in the capital expressed outrage at the violence and said the attack marked a sad day for the country.

"I voted for Bolsanaro but I don't agree with what they're doing," Daniel Lacerda, 21, told the BBC. "If you don't agree with the president you should just say it and move on, you shouldn't go hold protests and commit all the violence like they're doing."

And many are drawing comparisons with the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump, an ally of Mr Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro supporters created camps in cities across Brazil, some of them outside the military barracks. That is because his most ardent supporters want the military to intervene and make good elections that they say were stolen.

It looked like their movement had been curbed by Lula's inauguration - the camps in Brasilia had been dismantled and there was no disruption on the day he was sworn in.

But Sunday's scenes show that those predictions were premature.

Bolsonaro supporters storm the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, 08 January 2023.
EPA

Leaders from Latin America have condemned the violence:

  • Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Brazil had his country's "full support in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy".
  • Colombian President Gustavo Petro said "fascism [had] decided to stage a coup".
  • Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico expressed "full support for President Lula's administration, elected by popular will".

And French President Emmanuel Macron said the "will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected" and pledged the "unfailing support of France" to Lula.

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2023-01-09 00:38:47Z
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Lula vows to punish Brazilian Congress invaders - BBC

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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says perpetrators will be found and punished after supporters of Brazilian far-right ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress.

The dramatic scenes come a week after the left-wing veteran's inauguration.

Supporters of Mr Bolsonaro - who refuses to accept that he lost the election - also stormed the Supreme Court and surrounded the presidential palace.

Police used tear gas but failed to repel the demonstrators.

Mr da Silva - better known as Lula - said there was "no precedent in the history of our country" for the scenes seen in the capital, Brasilia, on Sunday.

He called the violence the "acts of vandals and fascists".

Protesters have smashed windows, while others reached the Senate chamber, where they jumped on to seats and used benches as slides.

It is unclear if they are still in the building.

Footage on social media shows protesters pulling a policeman from his horse and attacking him outside the building.

Lula
Reuters

Lima, a 27-year-old production engineer, said: "We need to re-establish order after this fraudulent election.

"I'm here for history, for my daughters," she told the AFP news agency.

Many are drawing comparisons with the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump, an ally of Mr Bolsonaro.

Mr Bolsonaro's supporters are calling for military intervention and the resignation of Lula, who defeated his far-right rival in October's election.

Many of them created camps in cities across Brazil, some of them outside the military barracks. That's because his most ardent supporters want the military to intervene and make good elections that they say were stolen.

It looked like their movement had been curbed by Lula's inauguration - the camps in Brasilia had been dismantled and there was no disruption on the day he was sworn in.

But Sunday's scenes show that those predictions were premature.

Justice and Public Security Minister Flavio Dino called the invasion "an absurd attempt to impose [the protesters'] will by force".

"It will not prevail," he wrote on Twitter.

Bolsonaro supporters storm the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, 08 January 2023.
EPA

Leaders from Latin America have condemned the violence.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Brazil has its "full support in the face of this cowardly and vile attack on democracy".

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said "fascism has decided to stage a coup", while Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico expresses "full support for President Lula's administration, elected by popular will".

Lula is currently on an official trip in São Paulo state.

In his inauguration speech, he vowed to rebuild a country in "terrible ruins".

He decried the policies of his predecessor, who went to the US to avoid the handover ceremony.

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2023-01-08 21:22:43Z
1728797049

China reopens borders to tourists after three years of Covid closure - BBC

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China has reopened its borders to international visitors for the first time since it imposed travel restrictions in March 2020.

Incoming travellers will no longer need to quarantine - marking a significant change in the country's Covid policy as it battles a surge in cases.

They will still require proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of travelling.

The move has been welcomed by many eager to reunite with family.

In Hong Kong, 400,000 people are expected to travel into mainland China in the coming weeks with long queues for flights into cities including Beijing and Xiamen.

On Sunday, double-decker coaches packed with travellers arrived at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to catch buses to the Guangdong province - among them were college students returning home.

One man told the BBC he hadn't seen his extended family in five years and could not hold back his excitement, having just bought a ticket back to China.

A woman told news agency Reuters she had not seen her parents in years - despite one of them suffering from colon cancer - and said she was "so, so happy".

A woman stands next to a sign that says 'mainland residents' and directs passengers
JEROME FAVRE/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The country's reopening comes at the start of "chun yun", the first period of Lunar New Year travel. Before the pandemic, it was the largest annual worldwide migration of people returning home to spend time with family.

Two billion trips are expected to be made this Lunar New Year, double the number that travelled last year.

Li Hua, who travelled from the UK to China - where her family lives - for the festival said it had been "too long" since she had returned, "I'm so happy to be back, and breathe Chinese air. So happy, so happy".

Mark Clayton returned home to Zhuhai, in Guandong, with his wife and baby after visiting Hong Kong. He told the BBC his trip home had been "nearly as smooth as it used to be pre-Covid".

"We didn't even show them the PCR, we simply scanned a code and put in a very quick customs declaration... And then straight through," he said.

But there is concern from some that opening the borders will result in more transmission of Covid-19.

Some local bus drivers at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge told the BBC they are worried they might get the virus from incoming travellers, and want their companies to provide them with more protection.

Over the past three years China had one of the world's strictest Covid health policies that saw numerous lockdowns, frequent testing requirements and had a significant impact on the nation's economy.

The government recently walked back that policy after mass protests across the country, triggered by a fire in a high-rise block in the Xinjiang region that killed 10 people. Many Chinese believed the long-running Covid restrictions contributed to the deaths, but authorities denied this.

Since China abandoned the key elements of its Covid zero policy there have been reports of hospitals and crematoriums being overwhelmed, but the country has stopped publishing its case numbers and reported only two deaths on Saturday.

The anticipated surge in cases and travel out of China has prompted many countries - including the UK - to impose requirements for a negative COVID-19 test on people arriving from China, drawing the ire of the Chinese government.

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2023-01-08 14:42:18Z
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