The wave of protests in at least a dozen cities erupted after a fire in the far western region of Xinjiang on Thursday killed 10 people by official count, a toll that many suspected was linked to COVID-19 restrictions that have confined people to their homes. Demonstrators used the white sheets to mourn those lost – white is a common funeral colour in China – and to express an anger understood implicitly by millions who have suffered under pandemic restrictions. The display of wordless papers “means ‘we are the voiceless, but we are also powerful’,” said Hazel Liu, a 29-year-old…