The first city in China was put under a bell on April 5 to avoid the spread of Covid as much as possible. Faced with the extreme methods of the Chinese authorities, the 25 million inhabitants of Shanghai are morally exhausted and exasperated by the lack of access to food.
After a month of drastic confinement, the people of Shanghai are exhausted by the rigidity of the local police. The majority of them still cannot leave their accommodation and are asked by one of the 52,000 police officers mobilized for confinement to return home. There are few places to go for those who can, with shops and other public places closed. Many residents have complained about the rigidity of the police, which sometimes does not take into account health emergencies or other individual circumstances. The only authorized outing, according to Le Monde, is to go for a Covid test.
Strict controls since April 5.
Drip food parcels
At the window of my building, residents are banging pots to show their displeasure. In 30 days, we only received 3 food parcels from the government. #Shanghai pic.twitter.com/hUYjJdhZeh
— Antoine Morel (@Antwanmorel) April 28, 2022
The food parcels distributed by the local authorities are not enough to feed the inhabitants locked in their homes. They show their dismay at their windows by banging on pots when others are forced to search the garbage cans of their building. The entrances to the buildings are sometimes barricaded by the authorities to prevent residents from leaving at all costs.
u2b55ud83dude14ud83dudc41ud83cudde8ud83cuddf3ud83dudeabShanghai (in confinement for more than a month)
Hungry middle class look for food in garbage cans
04/28/2022
Many citizens suspect local Chinese govt officials of stealing the foodstuffs and selling them at an exorbitant price pic.twitter.com/O3ZnB9A2yy
— LaPinkResistance ud83cuddebud83cuddf7ud83cudde8ud83cudde6ud83cudde7ud83cuddeaud83cudde6ud83cuddfa {Never-vax} ud83cudfad (@LaPinkRes) April 30, 2022
2022 shanghai, one of the largest cities worldwide, citizens treated like animals. Fenced to “stop” Covid 19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/idFolxrGiA
—emliunixud83cudf08 (@liu_yuhui) May 1, 2022
In one of the districts of the most populous city in China, residents unearthed food stocks that were not distributed to residents.
#China ud83cudde8ud83cuddf3 – The committee of one of the districts of #Shanghai preferred to let the vegetables rot rather than distribute them. The hungry and angry mob rushed into the neighborhood committee and seized the food pic.twitter.com/bzs7x6Koeg
— u24c3u24bau24ccu24c8—u24beu24c3u24c9·۰•u25cfud83cudf10 (@NewsInt_) April 30, 2022
Residents of Minhang District demonstrated loudly in the street to express their frustration.
Other images circulating show pets locked in bags to avoid possible contagion of covid and its variant Omicron.
The methods of the Chinese authorities shock public opinion, including as far away as France where Internet users reacted en masse after the broadcast of a report in the program Sept à Huit on TF1.
The living conditions in the quarantine centers are hardly more enviable: we see children separated from their parents, a total absence of privacy and continuous surveillance.
These scenes are similar to totalitarianism according to journalist Vincent Hugeux.