The Chinese authorities reinforced on Monday the police presence in beijing to deter new demonstrations against the policy of covid zero, after a Sunday marked by relevant protests in the Asian giant.
With the presence of numerous police vehicles, highly visible patrol cars or surveillance cameras, the security forces prevented new protests on Monday in the streets of the Chinese capital. Hundreds of people, most of them young, had demonstrated on Sunday night on both banks of the Liangma channel, giving rise to a very unusual image in Peking.
Demonstrators held up blank sheets of paper to protest against censorship, sang the national anthem and shouted proclamations against restrictions on the covid-19 that have prevented them from traveling freely for almost three years. “I followed him through social networks and I wanted to come see how things were. There is finally a mobilization against this health policy,” declared a woman in her 40s, present in the canal area. Liangma.
Give context: Protests multiply in China against the ‘zero covid’ policy
“Young people are worried. Real estate prices are practically unaffordable and they don’t know if they will find a job. These restrictions anticovid they add to their frustrations,” said the woman, who declined to be named. “With all this health policy, it’s like we’ve put a cover on China. We have become the laughing stock of the world, don’t you think?” she added.
Passport restrictions
The policemen They patrolled on both banks of the canal, usually a promenade area, in groups of two or three. There were also agents in the adjacent streets, very easy to recognize by their navy blue uniforms. Nearby were parked about twenty vehicles or vans from the security forcessome of them equipped with surveillance cameras, which greatly hindered any concentration of protesters.
“I was moved by what these young people did yesterday (Sunday). They defended their rights, I support them,” said a woman in her 30s, who took the opportunity to walk next to the canal despite the low, almost winter temperatures. “I think they were inspired by what happened in October,” she said, referring to the action of an unknown person who hung two banners on a bridge in Beijing with messages critical of the anti-covid policy and the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingbefore being arrested. Although she did not participate in the protests, this thirty-something woman is also fed up with the health policy against the pandemic.
More information: Covid: China registers more than 300,000 cases since the start of the pandemic
“My passport expired two years ago and the authorities refuse to renew it due to health restrictions. We cannot go abroad. What world do we live in?”, he laments. The Chinese authorities practically do not issue passports to their fellow citizens, except for those who have to travel abroad to work, study or see relatives.
“We see our leaders who go abroad and do not wear a mask. Why do we have to continue wearing it here? It is incomprehensible”
“We see our leaders who go abroad and do not wear a mask. Why do we have to continue wearing it here? It is incomprehensible,” says the 40-year-old passerby. “I think the government has understood the message and that it will soften its policy” against covid-19, assures another woman with greater optimism, who went for a run through the canal area. Other symbolic places in Beijing, such as the tiananmen squareThey were deserted this Monday.
Many policemen were present in the historic square and carried out identity checks on passers-by, including cyclists, something very unusual. A demonstration was scheduled for Monday night near the bridge where the banners were unfurled in October, but ultimately did not take place due to the overwhelming police presence.
AFP
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