Coronavirus: Internet user denounces China crisis management

Guards wearing a mask as a safety measure against the Coronavirus (Covid-19). GREG BAKER / AFP

Text by: Angélique Forget

In China, more than 75,000 people are infected with the Coronavirus (Covid-19). The authorities continue to put pressure on citizens who criticize the management of the crisis. But Chen Siming, 56, regularly apostrophe the authorities on social networks.

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From our correspondent in Shanghai ,

For the past week, Chen Siming has been regularly visited by the police in his apartment. Uniformed officers ask him to stop posting critical messages to the government on Twitter. With his phone, he records exchanges like this: “ We have come to tell you that you have to stop tweeting. If you continue to tweet, you will have to bear the consequences of your actions. "

Life on probation

Today, Chen Siming lives on probation. He knows it, he risks prison, but that does not start his fight. He wants to continue writing on social networks. " I tweet information to show how the government is preventing us from expressing ourselves freely, because they are doing everything to control public opinion, " he said.

A lawyer, Chen Qiushi, and a citizen journalist, Fang Bin, who had denounced the lack of transparency in the management of care for the Coronavirus (Covid-19) are missing. Officially, they have been quarantined, but are more likely to be detained by the authorities.

According to Chen Siming, the authorities are feverish because the epidemic is shaking Chinese power. The authorities fear that the stability of power will be threatened. So to keep themselves in place, they are trying to control the situation by hiding the truth about the coronavirus epidemic , "he continues.

Chen Siming is one of the signatories of a recent petition to the highest authorities in the state. She calls for greater freedom of expression in the country.

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  • coronavirus
  • China

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