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Hundreds of rural bank customers in central China’s Henan Province were dragged, beaten and dragged on Sunday by a group of unidentified men as they protested local government corruption amid the freezing of their deposits during months.
Since mid-April, depositors have been pressuring Henan authorities to help recover the savings of at least four small “village” banks that stopped the withdrawals. The campaign attracted national attention last month after a planned rally in Henan’s capital, Zhengzhou, was thwarted by digital health codes that mysteriously turned red. Following a nationwide outcry over the misuse of the anti-coronavirus system, the central government intervened and punished five local officials.
Over the weekend, depositors tried again, this time with valid “green” codes. At dawn on Sunday, according to videos of the incident shared on Chinese social media, hundreds of protesters unfurled banners alleging corruption on the stairs of the local branch of the People’s Bank of China, including one in English. which said “No deposits. No human rights.”
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“The Chinese dreams of 400,000 depositors in Henan have been shattered,” read another banner, referring to President Xi Jinping’s slogan that promised a better life for those who work hard and remain loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. . Many waved Chinese national flags.
They also accused the government of working with the “mafia” to violently repress the protests. It is unclear exactly why the banks have frozen withdrawals, but police are currently investigating Henan New Fortune Group, a shareholder in four banks, on suspicion of illegal fundraising, according to local media reports.
It is common practice for police in China to be present at sensitive events without uniforms, rather than often wearing pre-set badges. During previous lawsuits by Chinese human rights lawyers, journalists and foreign diplomats gathering outside the courthouse have been occasionally pushed by unidentified people wearing yellow badges with identical smiling faces.
Unusually daring demonstrations were attended by dozens of uniformed police officers, as well as a team of sturdy men, mostly in white T-shirts, who all arrived together. Videos of the incidents, widely shared on Chinese social media before censors intervened, showed officers in blue shirts lurking as stout men in white shirts began to attack the crowd. Protesters were dragged down a ladder before being taken away. Some were loaded on buses, often with bruises from the clashes.
“I have been in shock since yesterday until today,” one protester said in an interview, asking to remain anonymous for fear of official repercussions for speaking to foreign media. He repeatedly described the men as “unidentified,” but added, “I never thought it could happen that officials could use this kind of violent beating against unarmed and defenseless normal people.”
“If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I really wouldn’t have believed it. When the foreign media reported similar incidents in the past, I always thought it was a slander, ”he said.
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In response to the videos of the scene, Tsinghua University law professor Lao Dongyan asked the Weibo microblog for those responsible for the beatings to be criminally responsible.
Lao added that an “immune system” of the media and the law should have prevented depositors’ search to recover their savings from descending to such brutal scenes. “This is a concrete sign that there is a problem with the immune system: all normal avenues for seeking relief are blocked. What is scary is that this could be just the beginning,” he said.
Lost savings are a relatively common cause of protests in China, despite the widespread efforts of the Chinese Communist Party, obsessed with stability, to prevent public unrest. In recent years, crackdowns on poorly regulated financial products and peer-to-peer lending have attracted investors to the capital to pressure authorities to make up for losses.
China’s rural banks are currently the focus of a government campaign to curb debt. These institutions account for about 29 percent of all high-risk financial institutions in the country by mid-2021, according to the People’s Bank of China.
In the face of increased competition from larger institutions, many small banks have in recent years tried to attract depositors using higher interest rates and also by hiring customers across the country for online services. Regulations for banks were not set for Internet funding, He Ping, a professor at Renmin University School of Finance, told Sanlian Lifeweek magazine.
The Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Sunday that it will speed up the process of verifying customers of the four banks in the village under investigation and announce a solution to the problem soon.
However, depositors continue to look for ways to pressure the Henan government not to ignore the case, including comments under the official Weibo account of the U.S. embassy in China. “Quickly report on Zhengzhou. Save us,” one user wrote on Sunday.
Vic Chiang in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.