Residents of Guangzhou in southern China clashed with law enforcement after a prolonged lockdown, according to videos verified by AFP, a sign of growing exasperation with the zero COVID health policy.
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Since last month, part of the 18 million inhabitants of this large metropolis have been subject to travel restrictions, due to an epidemic rebound.
Haizhu district, home to about 1.8 million people, is where most of the positive cases are concentrated.
On Monday, the authorities decided to extend until Wednesday evening a confinement in force in most of the district.
Videos uploaded Monday evening and verified by AFP show hundreds of residents demonstrating in the streets.
Some, in small groups, break down the large plastic barriers that serve to confine buildings or neighborhoods.
In other footage shot in the Haizhu district, protesters attack officers in full white protective suits.
“We don’t want any more tests!” Chanted demonstrators, while some threw objects at the police.
Another video shows a man swimming across the river that separates Haizhu from the neighboring county. Passersby suggest that the individual is trying to escape confinement.
Demonstrations in China are less frequent than in the West and above all less publicized.
But social networks have regularly echoed in recent months scenes of exasperation of the population in the face of the inflexible zero COVID policy.
The latter consists in particular of confinements as soon as a few cases appear, travel restrictions and sometimes almost daily PCR tests.
Many Chinese complain about these unexpected restrictions, which in some cases cause food shortages and complicate access to healthcare for confined people.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities issued an apology after the death of a three-year-old child from carbon monoxide poisoning.
In a message posted on the internet and then deleted, his father accused the agents in charge of the application of the containment of having hindered his access to the hospital.
In April, during the confinement of Shanghai, residents had faced police officers who had come to force them to give up their apartments to isolate people positive for the coronavirus.