Chinese city dwellers rebel against “zero covid” policy

Experts largely agree that China appears to have no plans to end the “zero COVID” strategy neither in the short nor in the long term.

Residents of the southern Chinese city of Guangdong clashed with police after a lockdown extension, according to verified videos, a sign of public exasperation with the “zero covid” applied by the authorities.

Since last month, some of the 18 million inhabitants of this great metropolis have been under restrictions due to a covid outbreak.

Haizhu district , where some 1.8 million people live, is where most of the positive cases are concentrated.

On Monday, the authorities decided to extend the lockdown that was in force in most of the district until Wednesday.

Videos released on Monday and verified by AFP show hundreds of residents protesting in the street.

Some of them, in small groups, are shown tearing down the plastic barriers used to confine buildings or neighborhoods.

In other images recorded in the Haizhu district, protesters attack agents in white protective suits. “We don’t want any more tests!”, the protesters chant, while some throw objects at the police.

Demonstrations in China are less frequent than in the West and, above all, less publicized.

In recent months, however, social networks have frequently shown scenes of exasperation with the inflexible “covid zero” policy, which implies lockdowns as soon as some positive cases appear , travel restrictions and PCR tests, sometimes almost daily.