The Hang Seng index plunged 3.26% to 17,000.23 points at the open.
The composite index of Shanghai, the largest Chinese megalopolis where clashes broke out with groups of protesters, lost 1.5% to 3,055.29 points, while that of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the second in China, lost lost 1.54% to 1,953.71 points.
Demonstrations were held this weekend in several major Chinese cities to denounce the excessive confinements, some people chanting slogans against the power in place, a rare demonstration of hostility towards the regime of President Xi Jinping and his policy of "zero Covid " draconian practiced for nearly three years.
Unexpected, massive and endless stay-at-home measures after the discovery of the slightest case, systematic quarantine of contact cases in camps and negative PCR tests required almost daily to gain access to public space are increasingly exasperating the Chinese population. .
© 2022 AFP