army tanks China took to the streets of at least one city in that country on Wednesday to intimidate hundreds of protesters who for days have been claiming before the headquarters of the local banks the release of their frozen savings by decision of the authorities.
According to the Indian media report The Print and videos that circulate on social networks, Tanks of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are on the streets to protect the headquarters of banks in Rizhao, Shandong provincereported local media and Chinese users of the Reddit social network, blocked in the Asian giant but accessed by many people through VPN.
The incident comes in light of the declaration of Bank of China Henan City Branch that people’s savings at its headquarters are “investment products” and cannot be withdrawn.
Despite promises that depositors in Chinese villages in Henan would get their frozen money back in batches with the first due on July 15, only a handful of depositors received the payments, raising questions about whether banks have liquidity.
On July 10, more than 1,000 depositors gathered in front of the Zhengzhou branch of the country’s top bank, the People’s Bank of China., to make his biggest protest yet. Rumors also circulated that the director of the parent company had fled and was wanted for financial crimes.
The protesters represent thousands of customers who opened accounts at six rural banks in Henan and neighboring Anhui province.who later discovered that they could not access their funds, reported AFP.
Hit by the country’s economic slowdown, four banks in Henan province have frozen all cash withdrawals since mid-April.
The protesters denounced the corruption and violence of the Henan authorities, displaying banners in front of the building and chanting slogans with messages such as “give back my hard-earned money.” At the same time, they requested the central government to punish the Henan authorities for not taking prompt action to handle the case.
According to independent media reports from Hong Kong, At a time when Beijing is emphasizing the need for stability, allowing such incidents to deepen would show that banks are short of cash.
According to The Printmuch of local government revenue comes from leasing land, especially to real estate developers, but since several ongoing projects remain unfinished, many construction companies have not bought back land, affecting that revenue .
A few days ago, a video circulated on networks in which the professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Zheng Yuhuang, warned that 2022 will be a difficult year for China. According to official data, 460,000 companies closed in the first half of the current year and 80 million young people are unemployed.
According to independent reports, the reason homebuyer loan defaults are not being addressed immediately is because, with the exception of top officials directly in charge of urban construction and real estate, almost all successful real estate developers are part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elite.
During protests by bank account holders days ago in Henan province, men dressed in white, suspected of belonging to the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, reportedly cracked down on protesters outside the People’s Bank of China in Zhengzhou. (PBoC), according to local media. Until now, the Chinese authorities have ignored the citizens’ demands.
The appearance of tanks on the streets of the city is a grim reminder of the horrific massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.when Chinese leaders sent in heavy equipment and heavily armed troops to clear the area of Beijing where hundreds of students had been camped out for weeks demanding democracy and greater freedoms.
The crackdown, which killed hundreds if not thousands of unarmed protesters, remains a hushed up event and its mention in schools and the media is censored.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THgxPbliCU