Crackdown by the hazmat police
Riots in China as protesters hit back over Covid rules
VIOLENCE has erupted in China as protesters clashed with riot police wearing hazmat suits in the country’s largest street demonstrations in decades.
Security forces continued a major crackdown yesterday after protests against coronavirus lockdowns in several cities across the country.
Hundreds of SUVs, vans and armoured vehicles were parked along city streets while police and paramilitary forces randomly searched mobiles for photos, banned apps or other evidence of participation in demonstrations.
Some of the most extreme displays of dissent in China since the Tiananmen protests of 1989 took place in the southern city of Guangzhou on Tuesday night and into the early hours yesterday.
As demonstrators defying strict Covid lockdown rules took to the streets, hundreds of riot police wearing hazmat suits to protect against the virus marched in formation through the city.
Videos circulating online show demonstrators throwing bottles at the police in chaotic scenes, with people screaming and shouting. In one incident, police threw a tear gas canister towards demonstrators in a narrow street, prompting panic as protesters tried to flee.
Nearly a dozen people, with their hands bound with cable ties, were seen being dragged off by police. The catalyst for the recent protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi in which ten people died.
Many speculated that Covid curbs in the city – parts of which had been under lockdown for 100 days – hindered rescue and escape.
There were also protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and several other cities at the weekend.