Hundreds of protesters can be seen smashing through police barriers and marching in the streets in footage that have been making the rounds on social media from Guangzhou’s Haizhu district, which has been under lockdown since late last month.
According to the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the protests took place in a number of urban villages, mostly in the less affluent areas where migrant workers reside. According to the report, the local government dispatched numerous police vehicles to the demonstrations.After over three years of limitations under the nation’s Covid Zero policy, Chinese people, especially those living in metropolitan areas, are growing more and more agitated.Even as authorities relax some restrictions, such as lowering the mandated quarantine period for incoming tourists and doing away with a system where airlines are fined for transporting infected passengers, lockdowns don’t appear to be going away anytime soon. One of the main complaints made by those confined to their houses to stop outbreaks is the lack of food and the difficulties in receiving prompt medical care.On Weibo and WeChat, two of the biggest social media platforms in China, where online discourse is sometimes restricted to suppress public opinion, there were relatively few posts describing the protests, which some people have referred to as riots.Comment your thoughts below.
