The death of 10 people in a locked down apartment building in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang seems to have sparked something inside ordinary Chinese citizens.

Authorities were, on Saturday, forced to open up parts of the region’s capital Urumqi following mass agitations. Then on Sunday, the sparks of Xinjiang seem to have spread to major cities like Shanghai and Beijing, with angry demonstrators gathering in public, holding blank placards in protest against censorship.