Clashes over China’s COVID-19 rules were growing fast as people in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou attacked police in an all-white pandemic suit on Tuesday night. Videos of the clash spread all over social media showed people’s anger over COVID-19 measures three years into the pandemic raging high.
Violence escalates during clashes between people and police
People can be seen attacking police with objects, a tear gas canister landing among a crowd, and people running to escape the scene, in the videos that surfaced on social media.
In the largest wave of civil disobedience in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took office ten years ago, skirmishes in the southern city over the weekend escalated from protests in the commercial center of Shanghai, the capital Beijing, and other towns.
In one of the videos, a large number of riot police in all-white pandemic gear held shields over their heads, and took advancing position over what seemed to be broken lockdown barriers as things from far away were about to land at them.
Later, police escorted people in a line with handcuffs to a different area. According to these social media posts, the clashes which occurred on Tuesday night were due to an argument over lockdown curbs.
Between Saturday and Monday, at least 27 protests happened, according to the China Dissent Monitor, a project of Freedom House, which receives funding from the American government. Australia’s ASPI thinks tank estimated 43 protests in 22 cities.
The capital, Beijing recorded 1,282 symptomatic and 3,240 asymptomatic cases the previous day. High numbers were also reported from Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing.
After decades of unstoppable expansion, which served as the foundation of an unwritten social contract between the ruling Communist Party and a populace whose freedoms have been drastically restricted under Xi, resentment is increasing as China’s COVID-hit economy sputters.
According to an official statement, Chinese intelligence officer Chen Wenqing in a meeting of the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission urged law-enforcement agencies to implement strong policies to protect national security and social stability. A statement by the commission at the meeting held on Monday was heard as saying, “Illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order won’t be tolerated”. The details of the meeting were not disclosed until Tuesday.
Flexibility in Covid norms
Guangzhou is a wide port city north of Hong Kong in Guangdong province and a resident of many migrant factory workers. Here, officials declared on Tuesday night that they will not force people close to COVID-19 patients to remain in shelters but can be quarantined at their homes.
Officials in Zhengzhou, a city where Apple iPhones are manufactured on the largest scale, declared the “orderly” reopening of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms, and restaurants. But they also gave a list of other buildings and sites that would remain closed in lockdown.
Long before these announcements were made, national health officials informed on Tuesday that China would take action on “urgent concerns” shown by the people, while also saying that COVID measures should be implemented more flexibly, according to each region’s conditions.
