The situation has dragged on for a long time due to a scam of almost 6,000 million euros. Plainclothes police officers indiscriminately attacked the victims. The footage of the attack was censored on social media. More than 4,000 small Chinese banking institutions have an opaque structure.
Rome () – Hundreds of account holders gathered yesterday in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, to demand that they be allowed to withdraw their savings from local banks in crisis. The demonstrators suffered a violent repression by the security forces. Some were injured and taken away.
The violent clashes took place in front of the local branch of the Central Bank. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the early morning waving banners and chanting slogans such as “Henan banks, return my savings.”
The banners denounced the violence of the authorities and called for human rights and the rule of law. Since April, checking account holders of at least four banks in Henan found that their bank accounts had been frozen and access to the internet banking system had been closed.
In June, the authorities used the Covid tracking app to restrict the freedom of movement of clients of these financial institutions, thereby preventing them from filing petitions and organizing protests.
The abuse of health measures for the purpose of social control sparked widespread criticism. However, the victims of the banks remain under control: account holders have even received calls and warnings from the police in their city.
At the end of June, the police reportedly dispersed the demonstrators by force. Some of them were taken away. An online video shows officers firing warning shots. This weekend’s clashes were even tougher. Authorities tightened security where the protesters gathered. According to Reuters, one protester said there were three times as many security personnel as protesters and that he was dragged away by police.
The videos show that, in addition to the uniformed police, some unidentified plainclothes officers entered the crowd to disperse it: the protesters responded by throwing bottles of water. The policemen, all wearing white shirts and black pants, attacked people indiscriminately. Some protesters were beaten and received facial injuries.
Henan authorities did not respond to press questions. Photos and videos of the violent clashes are censored on Chinese social media.
According to Chinese newspapers, it is estimated that throughout the country there are about 400,000 current account holders in the incriminated banks, whose savings amount to almost 40,000 million yuan (5,900 million euros).
The authorities have cracked down on the unregulated “black banking system,” which lends off-the-record. There are around 4,000 small credit institutions in China and many of them are opaque, whose governance structures are more vulnerable to corruption and bank runs.
In 2019, authorities brought Baoshang Bank under control, the first intervention by banking regulatory authorities in twenty years. At least five small credit institutions have been affected by financial crises and subjected to anti-corruption investigations.
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