Protesters, who can no longer withdraw money in their banks, in difficulty, demonstrated Sunday July 10 in the center of China against local power, which they consider to be corrupt.
Le Monde with AFP
This is a gesture of unusual distrust against Chinese leaders. Weakened by the economic slowdown, four banks in the province of Henan have frozen, since mid-April, any retreat of money, trapping thousands of small savers. This situation has since given rise to sporadic demonstrations.
To prevent new rallies, local authorities were suspected, last month, of having turned red the health pass from a certain number of demonstrators, making any displacement prohibited.
Sunday, several hundred people demonstrated in front of a branch of the central bank in China, in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, according to several participants, who requested anonymity with the France-Presse agency (AFP ). Photos published on social networks show banners denouncing “the corruption and violence of the Henan authorities”.
On videos, the content of which could not be verified independently by AFP, demonstrators are arrested in a muscular manner by plainclothes agents. Some protesters have a swollen face. Participants were “struck, injured and bait their heads. Disabled people were even violently defeated,” said one of them.
tracing by health passes
Local authorities did not react immediately. The manifestations in China are relatively rare, in a country where the maintenance of social stability is an obsession, and where power generally kills in the egg any dispute. By despair, some Chinese do not hesitate to take to the streets, despite the risks of arrests and prosecution.
During the last month, the Henan authorities were under the fire of criticism after a supposed manipulation of health passes, aimed at preventing new demonstrations. The health pass is required in China to access most buildings, shopping centers, public places, but also certain transport.
The vast majority of Chinese people willingly lend themselves to the tracing game for health purposes, but voices are being moved as to a potential drift of this tool for surveillance purposes. Like the four Henan banks, other establishments elsewhere in China are in a delicate financial situation, exacerbated by corruption, believe analysts.