DRAMATIC video shows the moment Chinese rioters flipped a police car in a rare protest over Zero Covid lockdowns.
The footage was taken in the city of Guangzhou, where residents have been seen battling with hazmat clad lockdown enforcers.
3
3
Footage also shows protesters tearing down barriers and shouting “no more testing” after an explosion of anger over the draconian measures in the southern city.
Tensions had building in Guangzhou’s Haizhu District, which is home to many poorer itinerant labourers, the BBC reports.
They have complained of not being paid if they can’t work and of food shortages, as well as skyrocketing prices, due to the harsh lockdown.
Local resident Chet, whose residential compound has been locked down for about 20 days, described how anger has been bubbling under.
“It was quite tense out there last night. Everyone made sure their doors were locked,” he said.
“When it happened so close to me I found it really upsetting. I couldn’t sleep last night after watching those images.”
Chinese leader Xi Jinping – who was recently made “Emperor for Life” – is continuing to roll out what has been dubbed as the “world’s strictest lockdown”.
China only major economy sticking to a zero-Covid strategy to stamp out virus clusters as they emerge.
Under the policy, thousands of residents can be locked down over just one positive case in their housing complex.
Cops wearing hazmat suits and wielding machine guns have been brutally enforcing the rules.
But the swift and harsh lockdowns have battered the economy with some predicting the effects even leading to the downfall of Xi.
Inadequate conditions, food shortages and delayed emergency medical care have chipped away at public confidence in the policy.
As the rest of the world returns to normal, China has placed 280 million people in Covid lockdown this year, turning the country into a “huge prison” and damaging the economy.
Botched attempts to produce its own vaccine and unwillingness to swallow its pride and import them, leaves draconian lockdowns as the only way to tackle Covid.
The lockdown has left desperate Chinese fighting to get their hands on food as drones buzz around making sure they comply with the rules.
At the end of October workers reportedly broken out of a huge iPhone factory in China after draconian Covid measures forced staff into isolation.
Footage showed at least ten workers jumping over the fence outside The Foxconn Technology Group’s main factory in Zhengzhou amid reports of “chaotic infighting.”
The plant was first forced into a “closed loop system” after just a handful of Covid cases emerged in the region this month.
And it’s meant many of the 200,000 employees have been barred from leaving the manufacturing campus ever since.
However, the situation appeared to worsen amid reports that employees are fighting over food as scuffles have ensued over rations.
Dozens of people took to the streets in southern tech hub Shenzhen in September after officials announced a snap lockdown over a handful of Covid cases.
Earlier this year, a gruelling two-month lockdown in Shanghai saw protests over widespread food shortages and deaths due to lack of access to medical care.
Tariq Tahir
Source link
