In China, voices continue to be raised against Beijing’s strict health policy. In Canton (Guangzhou), in the south of the country, residents exasperated by the zero Covid policy clashed with the police after the extension of a confinement, according to videos posted online Monday November 14 and verified by the AFP.
Since an epidemic rebound in October, part of the 18 million inhabitants of this large metropolis have been subject to travel restrictions. Haizhu district, home to about 1.8 million people, is where most of the positive cases are concentrated.
On Monday, the authorities decided to extend until Wednesday evening a confinement in force in most of the district. Videos uploaded in the evening show hundreds of residents protesting in the streets. Some, in small groups, break down the large plastic barriers that serve to confine buildings or neighborhoods.
NEW – People in China’s Guangzhou city tear down COVID barricades. https://t.co/M28Rw63APC
On other footage shot in Haizhu Districtprotesters attack officers in full white protective suits. “We don’t want any more tests! », they chant, while some throw objects at the police. Another video shows a man swimming across the river that separates Haizhu from the neighboring county. Passersby suggest that the individual is trying to escape confinement.
Tonight, a riot broke out in #Guangzhou city, #CCPChina. The crowd cheered and applauded while pushing into the… https://t.co/stsAqRXLwo
Access to care complicated by health restrictions
Demonstrations in China are less frequent than in the West and above all less publicized. But social networks have regularly echoed in recent months scenes of exasperation of the population in the face of the inflexible health policy of the authorities. The latter consists in particular of confinements as soon as a few cases appear, travel restrictions and sometimes almost daily PCR tests.
广州康乐村居民暴动，推翻了警车。坦克要出动了吧。 https://t.co/hs9GC9mEnT
Many Chinese complain about these unexpected restrictions, which in some cases cause food shortages and complicate access to healthcare for confined people. At the beginning of the month, the Chinese authorities thus presented their apologies after the death of a 3-year-old child, poisoned by carbon monoxide. In a message posted on the Internet and then deleted, his father accused the agents in charge of the application of the containment of having hindered his access to the hospital. In April, during the confinement of Shanghai, residents had faced police officers who had come to force them to give up their apartments to isolate people positive for the coronavirus.