"Homes Seized by the State"... Shanghai Residents' 'Cries' Amid Exploding COVID-19 Cases

Some Residential Complexes Where Citizens Live Turned into Quarantine Facilities
Protesting to Police Leads to Arrests... Citizens Crying Out
3rd Week of Lockdown... Food Shortage Crisis Exploited by Fraud Schemes Continue

Shanghai Large-scale Quarantine Facility Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] As the city lockdown in Shanghai, China, surpasses 20 days, citizens' dissatisfaction is growing.

Videos of citizens being arrested by police while protesting against being forced out of their homes are also being posted on social media.

On the 15th (local time), according to the British BBC and The Guardian, numerous videos were posted on Chinese social media Weibo showing citizens screaming and protesting against police officers wearing protective suits.

Shanghai's quarantine authorities have converted exhibition halls and schools into temporary isolation facilities for patients, but with 20,000 new confirmed cases daily, they are seeking sufficient space.

Eventually, some residential complexes where citizens live were turned into quarantine facilities, and residents who were suddenly forced out of their homes protested to the police.

In the videos, when a resident protested, "Why are you hitting me?" the police instead arrested him, and the surroundings were filled with screams and cries.

In another video, a woman was seen crying out, "Why are you putting the elderly into the vehicle?" and some residents were captured kneeling on the ground, pleading with the police.

One resident told The Guardian, "This is madness," adding, "We never thought something like this could happen in Shanghai." He also asked, "Aren't Shanghai officials ashamed of what has been happening in our city over the past few weeks?"

In the third week of lockdown, Shanghai residents are not even allowed to go to local grocery stores due to the Chinese government's lockdown measures, and even when they manage to go, the shelves are already empty. Although emergency food supplies are being sent from nearby cities, with no certainty about when they will arrive, people have started bartering.

Transactions mainly take place in chat rooms. Residents in the same lockdown area create group chats on the messaging app WeChat and post offers like, "Does anyone have leftover cabbage? I will give you two packs of ramen," to negotiate trades.

If there are no goods to exchange, 'labor' is sometimes offered instead. According to the Hong Kong media South China Morning Post (SCMP), a Shanghai resident in his 20s, Ying Chengtuo, recently received two oranges from a neighbor but had no suitable groceries to offer in return. Remembering that the neighbor had a cat, he proposed, "I will pay for the oranges by playing with your cat." Having been alone at home for a long time due to the lockdown, he said, "Just having an animal in my room was a comfort."

Meanwhile, various scams exploiting the food crisis among Shanghai residents are also ongoing.

With the quarantine authorities' strict lockdown policy, 70 to 80% of the 26 million Shanghai residents remain indefinitely quarantined. Since the lockdown order was issued at the end of last month, group purchases have served as a lifeline for residents to obtain groceries and other daily necessities.

However, scams have been occurring at these group purchase sites, which started out of residents' desperation.

These scams include selling food with falsified weights or reselling relief supplies, which are supposed to be free, as if they were products from regular stores.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau has reportedly called for special caution in such exceptional situations involving fraud.

Meanwhile, Shanghai began its full city lockdown on the 28th of last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.