BEIJING: Hundreds of people marched on Sunday in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou to protest alleged corruption by local authorities, participants told AFP news agency, a rare public demonstration.
Hardly hit by the country’s economic downturn, four banks in Henan province have halted all cash withdrawals since mid-April, leaving thousands of small savers without money and fueling these public demonstrations.
According to locals, about 100 people rallied in front of a branch of ‘People’s Bank of China’ in Zhengzhou, Henan’s capital on Sunday, according to locals it was the biggest protest ever.
Banners condemning the “corruption and violence of the Henan authorities” also appeared in images circulated on social media.
Some protesters also accused the authorities of colluding with local banks to quell the protests, with authorities last month accusing them of destroying COVID health passes to quell new protests, restricting protesters in public places. To harden.
Health passes have become a ubiquitous part of life in China, and are required to access most buildings, shopping centers, public places, and some public transport, as part of Beijing’s strict COVID-zero strategy for containing COVID-19. While most acknowledge the use of the technology for public health purposes, some have expressed concern that it could also be used to monitor populations – already widespread in China.
Demonstrations are relatively rare in tightly controlled China, where social stability is an official obsession and where protests are swiftly repressed.
But desperate citizens sometimes take to the streets despite the risk of arrest and prosecution.
Analysts say some local banks across China have found their already precarious financial situation exacerbated by corruption.
