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On the Chinese microblogging site Weibo Friday, the top two trending hashtags were “Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology” and “We want freedom of speech,” the BBC reported.

The hashtags were quickly censored by the government, and a flood of messages of outrage towards the government over Li’s death were scrubbed from the platform.

Authorities moved quickly to delete any posts that hinted at protest, for fear that the uproar would spill onto the streets, the Guardian reported.

One now-deleted WeChat post said: “I hope one day we can stand on the street holding Li Wenliang’s picture.”

“Good people don’t live long, but evil lives for a thousand years,” read another post mourning Li’s death.

Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

Now, many users are using the hashtag “Can you manage, do you understand?” — a reference to the letter Dr. Li was forced to sign when authorities accused him of disrupting “social order,” according the BBC.

Though the comments hold back from outright naming Li, they demonstrate the escalating anger towards the government.

“Do not forget how you feel now. Do not forget this anger. We must not let this happen again,” one commenter wrote on Weibo.

“The truth will always be treated as a rumour. How long are you going to lie? What else do you have to hide?” another wrote.

“If you are angry with what you see, stand up,” one wrote. “To the young people of this generation, the power of change is with you.”

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

The government mouthpiece, The People’s Daily, put out an article Friday saying China has entered a critical stage of epidemic prevention work. “The country needs solidarity more than ever to jointly win a battle that it cannot lose, so that its people can be protected against disaster and patients around the country can return to health.”