Testimonials
China: in Shanghai, the grumbling of residents exhausted and exasperated by the “zero covid” strategy is heard
"Ghost town" atmosphere in Shanghai where shops and restaurants have been closed for several weeks.
REUTERS - ALY SONG
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The city of Shanghai is still confined to China.
Just over 23,000 new Covid cases are reported by health authorities.
Strict rules are implemented to try to stop the Omicron wave which leads to tensions.
Discontent rumbles and is heard on social networks.
Some residents who have been living under very strict confinement since the beginning of April and are experiencing food supply problems, no longer hesitate to criticize the “zero Covid” policy put in place by the authorities.
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“
The police beat the people
” shouts a woman with her hands on the tarmac, while a man is pushed back behind a wall of white coveralls stamped “police” which, in Covid times, give public safety officers in China, an air of an empire soldier in
Star Wars
.
But it's not a movie.
These
rare images of demonstrations and clashes
with the police were posted all day on social networks, deleted by censors, then reposted by Internet users, reports our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
.
Apr 14 afternoon: residents of Zhangjiang Nashi International Community (张江纳仕国际社区), Shanghai protested against the requisition of their apartment buildings by the government for use as quarantine facilities and clashed with the police.
1/n pic.twitter.com/jngxcWri5F
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) April 14, 2022
Nearly 40 households in an apartment complex (Zhangjiang Nashi International Community) in Pudong district yesterday (Thursday) protested authorities' requisition of their community as a collective quarantine site.
The now famous
fangcang
, rudimentary field hospitals intended to isolate asymptomatic positive cases by the tens of thousands, in gymnasiums, stadiums, or here in nine temporary buildings.
The site was already used for carrying out PCR tests.
Some of the residents would have agreed to be rehoused for six months free of charge in the suburbs of the city, according to official accounts.
According to the civil code of the People's Republic of China, "the real estate of an organization or individuals may be requisitioned for emergency needs", recalled the authorities.
Faced with the extent of the discontent, the local health officials had however to recognize “
many shortcomings
” in the management of the containment of the megalopolis, before asking the 25 million inhabitants of the megalopolis “
to criticize them and to help them make things better
.
►
To read also:
in
China, Omicron outbreak, Shanghai to the balcony
Fear of censorship fades
Faced with rising anger, the police of the net are struggling more and more to make any critical comments disappear.
Very active on social networks, Ji Xialong is one of those who defy censorship.
Locked up at home in the business district of Pudong, the beating heart of Shanghai today put under a bell jar, this Chinese can no longer stand the “zero covid” strategy applied at all costs by the authorities.
And he dares to say it at the microphone of
Yang Mei
, of the Chinese editorial staff of RFI:
Xi Jinping and the Communist Party will try to achieve their goals at all costs so as not to lose face.
Even if it costs the well-being, livelihood and even the life of 26 million Shanghainese.
They will be ready to tell lies, to defy the laws of nature, they will bury their heads in the sand, they will try everything, but they will not achieve their ends and they will pay a heavy social price.
»
The exasperation of the confined does not seem to move the lines in Beijing.
The Chinese number one said again on Wednesday April 13, the protective measures “
cannot be relaxed
”, announced Xi Jinping “
until the pandemic is fully under control
”.
►Also read:
South Korea lifts all health restrictions except for wearing a mask
Foreigners seek to leave the country
Airplanes are rare.
The previous Air France flights have been canceled, so that of this Friday evening is full.
Some of the passengers had planned to leave this summer, but the confinement of the Chinese economic capital accelerated the movement.
Listen to the testimony of a Frenchwoman, joined by our correspondent in Beijing.
We are tested every day...We can't leave our house...It's impossible for a Frenchman who hasn't lived in China to imagine what can be imposed on us.
As long as we haven't experienced it... It's unthinkable.
Elise, French living in Shanghai, waiting for her return flight at the airport
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