Anti-pandemic restrictions lead to riots in the Chinese city of Guangdong

November 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Hundreds of inhabitants of the Chinese city of Canton, in the southeast of the country, have taken to the streets to protest the strict restrictions applied to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, with surprisingly violent scenes in which, for example, citizens They have overturned a security forces vehicle.

Social networks have served as a loudspeaker for protests in which police barricades have been knocked down in the Haizhu district, which has been in lockdown since October to contain the spread of a coronavirus outbreak. The area is mainly home to people with few resources who need to return to work, the BBC reports.

The Chinese Ministry of Health reported more than 17,000 new positives for coronavirus on Monday, the worst data since April, according to the Bloomberg agency. Of them, more than 5,100 correspond to Canton, which has several districts completely closed pending a reduction in the contagion curve that has not yet arrived.

The messages about the “riots” in this megacity have circulated on social networks such as Weibo and WeChat and once again highlight a public discontent that had already become palpable in other similar contexts, both in urban centers and in stores or factories confined by surprise.

The Government, however, regularly defends its ‘zero cases’ policy at all levels, including at the recent congress that allowed the current president, Xi Jinping, to be re-elected for a third term at the helm of the Asian giant. He maintains that health protection and economic stability can be reconciled.