Ai, who now lives in Portugal with his wife and child, spoke to German news outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) on Friday about the mass protests against the Chinese government’s restrictive COVID-19 measures.

China has indicated that it will move to ease its zero-COVID policy following protests that broke out in dozens of cities across the country, which have largely dissipated amid a heavy police presence.

“This is unprecedented in the history of China, as well as that of all mankind,” Ai told DW in an email interview. He described China’s approach to COVID as the “most stringent constraints on human behavior in Chinese history and in human history.”

The recent protests were triggered by the deaths of 10 people in a fire at a high-rise building in the western Xinjiang region. Many people in China have expressed the view that the strict COVID policies made it more difficult for emergency services to help those affected by the blaze, though the Chinese government has denied this.

Ai described the protests against the government’s policy as “resistance gatherings.”

“People mostly want to be released from confinement and go back to their normal life,” the artist said.

However, Ai also expressed doubts about how effective the protests would be and pointed to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is the state’s sole ruling political party.

“Any type of protests in China can hardly be successful because the Party considers themselves as representative of the interests of the people,” Ai said, adding: “So for them there is no such thing as people’s protests against them.”

Ai is a conceptual artist who has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government. He has lived outside of China since 2015, initially living in Berlin, Germany and then Cambridge, U.K. before settling with his wife in Portugal.

On Thursday, China lifted some lockdown measures in dozens of districts in the cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, which have seen rising numbers of COVID cases.

Demonstrations began late last week following the fire in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi in far northwest China with protesters shouting “End the lockdown,” in videos that were quickly shared to social media.

The protests come as Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to begin a third term as president in March. He was elected for another term in October in a move that broke with the country’s recent political norms.

Newsweek has contacted China’s foreign ministry for comment.