The authorities in Guangzhou, in southern China, announced this Wednesday (30) the reopening of several districts of the city that were in confinement, after a night of intense clashes between protesters and the local police.
According to a statement released by the local health agency, the districts of Panyu, Liwan, Tianhe, Conghua and Huadu have lifted restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
In Haizhu, the most affected by the new coronavirus, it will be allowed, “in principle”, that some of close contacts of infected people confine themselves at home, instead of having to go to qualified community centers.
Several demonstrators in Guangzhou clashed with police on Tuesday (29), according to videos posted on social media, amid a wave of popular protests against the zero tolerance policy against Covid-19 imposed in China.
According to images posted on Twit ter – a platform prohibited in the Asian country -, it is possible to see agents of the security forces advancing in formation against barricades.
Another video shows the protesters throwing glass bottles at the police, and like gas bombs tear gas are fired towards people who were trying to escape.
A third publication has images of an agent taking several people into custody.
Crisis in Guangzhou
The thousands of new daily cases of Covid- in Guangzhou resulted in the confinement of several districts, which provoked revolt in part of the population .
Many of the people who had to be in isolation are immigrants from rural areas, who had to seek makeshift shelters.
The widespread discontent across China has also sparked protests in Beijing and Shanghai, the country’s largest cities. In the acts, one of the targets is the Communist Party, as well as the dictator Xi Jinping, who is asked to resign.
However, the new cases of Covid-19 entered a downward trend, after five days of consecutive increases. Today, positive 33.540 against 37.
were announced. from yesterday.
China’s zero-tolerance policy has been in effect since the beginning of 2020, despite signs of population depletion and a slowdown of economic growth, interruption of supply chains and agitation of financial markets.
The government, in turn, claims that it has saved millions of lives since the beginning of the spread of the new coronavirus and that, giving up of the strategy would cause a hospital collapse and an increase in deaths, especially of the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
