For eleven days, 25 million inhabitants have been confined to their homes in Shanghai following a further increase in Covid-19 contaminations. Extremely rare in this country where freedom of expression is padlocked, residents, distraught by the shortage of food, have begun to express their dissatisfaction. On videos shared on Saturday April 9 on Twitter, we can hear cries and whistles coming from several buildings as night has fallen. This is the method that some Chinese have found to openly express their dissatisfaction with health restrictions.
France Inter translated the remarks of the man who speaks in the dialect of the city in this video. The latter recounts: “At the beginning, some people shouted, then suddenly everyone started shouting. Because all these people do not know how long this confinement will last and why the measure was decided. There is no Explanation. We have been confined for 7 days. Not only can we not leave the residence, but not even our apartments. That wrong, If it lasts a long time, there will be problems.” In particular, the inhabitants have to deal with a shortage of food: many supermarkets are closed, and some find themselves without food.
In this other publication, we discover that a resident has installed his fridge on his balcony, the doors open to underline his state: completely empty.
Faced with this anger, the authorities of China’s largest city announced on Monday that they would gradually allow residents of areas with the least contamination to move outside their neighborhoods, although it is not known how many people will be able to leave their homes or when. Doubts are raised on social networks on the application of these measures, in particular by recalling the figures of contaminations with a card.