[5][6] Journalists raised questions of whether Beijing's strict enforcement of the zero-COVID policy prevented residents from leaving the building or interfered with the efforts of firefighters.

Since August 2022, COVID-19 has spread to many parts of Xinjiang, and the local government had formulated several epidemic prevention policies in response, such as lockdowns and mandatory testing.

Video footage posted to social media showed firetrucks unable to get close to the building, and water from the fire engines only barely reached the structure.

[5] According to electrician Eli Sultan (Chinese: 艾力·苏力), who serves the Jixiangyuan community, the residential compound lacked sufficient roadway for fire engines to pass, as a critical rescue passageway was blocked by fences and bollards for traffic control, which he claimed was unrelated to COVID-19 measures.

[4][9][8][13] After the fire, vigils and protests were held in Xinjiang, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Beijing, criticizing the PRC government's zero-COVID policy, with some calling on CCP general secretary Xi Jinping to resign.

[14] Although the fire occurred in a Uyghur-majority neighborhood[15] and the resulting deaths were all of Uyghurs,[4] most of the protestors in Ürümqi were Han Chinese, a different ethnic group.

[8] In Beijing and Nanjing, protesters held up blank pieces of paper to mourn the victims of the fire as well as criticize the government's censorship policies.

[21] Political scientist Dali Yang from the University of Chicago proposed that the comments by authorities on residents having been able to go downstairs and escape may have further fuelled public anger for having been perceived as victim blaming.