Guangzhou (aka Guangzhou), the largest city in southern China, returned this Wednesday to record violent clashes between protesters and police after a weekend marked by demonstrations across the country against the zero covid strategy.
Videos show protesters throwing glass bottles and metal bars at security forces, who emerge in rows, protected by transparent riot shields.
The scenes were shot in Haizhu district, which has been the target of violent clashes in recent weeks between groups of migrant workers from poor rural areas and the security forces. The district has been under very restrictive lockdown for several weeks as part of China’s ‘zero cases’ Covid-19 strategy.
Protesters in Guangzhou, China’s southern manufacturing center, have clashed with riot police in hazmat suits as frustration over strict Covid lockdown rules escalated. pic.twitter.com/r0wL8EoV9N
– TalkTV (@TalkTV) November 30, 2022
Another video shows dozens of handcuffed individuals being held by police.
China has increased police presence in major cities after demonstrations that took place over the weekend against highly restrictive measures to prevent covid-19.
The demonstrations were sparked by a deadly fire at a building in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Protesters said nearby blockades, as part of epidemic prevention measures, slowed access for the fire truck. Residents were also unable to escape from the building, the door of which was blocked.
However, the protests, on a scale unheard of in the country since pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989, are just the culmination of months of growing popular discontent.
Under its “zero cases” policy, China enforces the blockade of entire neighborhoods or cities, conducts constant mass testing, and isolates all positive cases and their direct contacts in designated facilities, often in degrading conditions.
Guangzhou’s Haizhu District is home to more than 1.8 million people. In early November, protesters in one neighborhood had already toppled a police vehicle and the barriers around their residential areas, prompting the intervention of riot police.
Source: DN
