Since admitting the outbreak in 2020, China has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards the virus, a strategy heavily criticized by the WHO and epidemiologists around the world. The promise is to generate stability. There's only one problem: it causes the exact opposite.
The strategy relies on mass testing and draconian restrictions to contain outbreaks, creating anti-covid bubbles that condemn millions of Chinese to absolute isolation, affecting daily life in countless ways. And who is responsible for this imposition? Guess what: the police.
There is a collapse of everyday life in the country, with frequent supply crises. Isolated families may be prevented from even buying food. With weeks of isolation, many Chinese get desperate and simply start screaming out the window.
Pressure has been building on authorities in China's most populous city, and one of its wealthiest, from residents growing increasingly frustrated as the curbs drag on
www.theguardian.com
The authorities, of course, do not tolerate demonstrations of this nature. And they use technology to contain them.
Why even many wealthy people in China’s richest city can’t reliably get food — and what it says about the country’s political system.
www.vox.com
China has also built concentration camps capable of imprisoning more than 4,000 Chinese and isolating them from society when they are suspected of having Covid. Nothing like it exists in the world. Even children are taken to these spaces, separated from their parents.
China is rushing to build a massive quarantine camp that can house more than 4,000 people, after an outbreak of Covid-19 this month that has left tens of millions of people under strict lockdown.
edition.cnn.com
There are demonstrations all over the country. Many protests are held with blank placards. People are not just protesting against quarantines, but for freedom of speech and democracy.
Demonstrators gathered in the capital Beijing and the financial hub Shanghai, as well as Wuhan.
www.bbc.com
Censorship, of course, is widespread. On television, when the international press reports on human rights violations committed by the Chinese government, the signal is cut off. As always.
BBC journalist Edward Lawrence was arrested in Shanghai, targeted by police just because he was filming the protests.
Earlier, Amnesty International published a note condemning Chinese authorities for widespread repression and forced quarantines. The organization says that what is happening in the country are "unprecedented protests".
Instead of penalising people, the government should listen to their calls.
www.amnesty.org