NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!
Chinese police “beat” citizens who gathered to protest the freezing of their bank accounts due to the COVID-19 policy on Sunday, according to protesters.
The protests centered on three banks serving mostly rural communities that have frozen millions of dollars in accounts since April. An estimated 1,000 protesters gathered to call for the release of their funds outside the Central Bank of China branch in Zhengzhou, but they said they were met with violence.
“I feel so bitter that I can’t even explain it to you,” one protester, who gave his name only as Jan, told Reuters.
“They didn’t say they’d beat us if we refused to leave. They just said over the loudspeaker that we’re breaking the law by filing a petition. That’s ridiculous. It’s the banks that are breaking the law,” the demonstrator added.
CHINA POSES ‘BIGEST LONG-TERM ECONOMIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT,’ WARNS FBI DIRECTOR RAY
In this photo released by Yang on Sunday, July 10, 2022, people hold banners and chant slogans during a protest at the entrance of a branch of the central bank of China in Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province. A large crowd of angry Chinese bank depositors clashed with police on Sunday, with some reportedly injured as they were roughly led away, in a case that gained attention due to earlier attempts to use a COVID-19 tracking app , to prevent them from mobilizing. (AP Photo/Yang) (AP)
CHINA’S Xi Jinping IS ‘SILENT PARTNER’ IN PUTIN’S ‘AGGRESSION’ IN UKRAINE, CIA DIRECTOR BURNS WARNS
Even with more than a thousand protesters, the police outnumbered the demonstrators roughly three to one, according to Zhang.
The Chinese government has launched an investigation into the pair of banks, Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank and Shangcai Huimin Country Bank, but has not announced further action.
The economic unrest comes as China is already trying to eliminate clusters of COVID-19 outbreaks within its borders.
Officials in the city of Wuxi shut down private dining and many other indoor activities last week. Authorities are also encouraging residents to work from home and stay in the city.
China’s “zero COVID” approach to the pandemic means that even small outbreaks lead to widespread lockdowns. The policy led to unrest in Shanghai, where the lockdown lasted for months and access to food and other everyday goods became severely hampered.
Government officials advertised this Shanghai was COVID-free in early June, but hundreds of thousands of residents remained locked out.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Shanghai authorities say the city experienced more than 500,000 cases between April and the end of May.
Add Comment