Hong Kong — They gathered peacefully, raised long flags, raised their fists, shouted “return money” and protested the freeze on savings by regional banks in central China. The guards then marched in unison to forcefully disperse the demonstrators, beat the protesters, kick them to the ground, and push them against the bus.
Rare, large-scale protests against bank scandals in Zhengzhou, Henan, have expanded in recent weeks, despite proactive measures taken by local governments to close them. The spread of Covid-19 to prevent protesters from traveling.But Sunday’s violence showed the toughest response ever by authorities to the efforts of hundreds of people. Of bank depositors seeking relief.
Photos and videos of plainclothes guards attacking protesters were shared on Chinese social media, arousing anger at the use of force. Although protest images are often censored quickly in China, Zhengzhou footage was also widely available on Monday, with one hashtag viewed 32 million times on Weibo, a service like Twitter.
Protesters gathered in front of the Zhengzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. Protesters interviewed over the phone said dozens of people were sent to a local hospital after being beaten.
“We’ve been all the way to Zhengzhou to get the money back, and we didn’t want to clash with anyone,” said 31-year-old Feng Tianyu, who lives in a city in the northern part of Harbin. “But the government has sent so many people to deal with unarmed people. We have been financially deceived, physically beaten and mentally traumatized.”
Feng, who was two months pregnant, said a man in a white shirt pulled her hair and arms into the bus, where police officers beat some of the demonstrators. She was eventually taken to the hospital because of abdominal pain, but she was denied hospitalization, she said.
Depositors say they are using an online third-party platform to collect money deposited at a local bank. Money has been frozen since April, when police and bank supervisors said they were investigating allegations of illegal financial activity.
Depositors from all over the country tried to demand their money directly, even though authorities repeatedly shut down messaging groups and tried to prevent them from traveling.
Protests are centered around four regional banks in Henan, but the slowdown in China’s economy and the growing impact of the Covid blockade have exposed more financial institutions and the country’s relatively new deposit insurance. The mechanism may be tried.
Chinese deposits are guaranteed up to RMB 500,000, about $ 74,500, but many Henan Bank customers make far more deposits. If the Henan Provincial Government determines that their deposits are part of an illegal financing plan, it can complicate all efforts to recover their money.
Many protesters said they had deposited their savings in banks and are now poor. Feng said he had deposited about $ 165,000. This was all about her savings and her father’s pension.
“I’m pregnant and this money is really important to me, so I’m here,” she said. “If you don’t get your money back, you won’t get a prenatal check, you won’t have this child, and you won’t be able to continue to support your two-year-old daughter.”
After reports of protests on Chinese social media, bank regulators in Henan Province developed a plan to manage the crisis involving four banks and “protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people” on Sunday. However, he did not provide immediate details.
The Chugoku Bank Insurance Regulatory Commission has accused Henan New Fortune Group, a shareholder of four banks, of illegally using third-party platforms and fund brokers to attract depositors from across the country, 4 Reported to the moon. National regulators have warned customers not to be fooled by the promise of very high returns or to rush to make bank deposits through a third party.
Police in Xuchang’s Henan City, led by a man named Lu Yi, said they may have used the Henan New Fortune Group to gather control of local banks and illegally transferred them using a fictitious loan on Monday. Funds that said they were investigating criminal groups. Police said the plan, which began in 2011, included setting up an online platform to promote financial products and recruit new customers, adding that some people were arrested.
However, some demonstrators said they felt that police and regulators had done little to protect their interests and were worried that they would not see their money. Some people noted that the alleged monetary misconduct dates back more than a decade and questioned whether authorities ignored the signs of previous fraud. Protesters said in an interview that public pressure is now their only reliance.
“One person is really too helpless. The government’s attention is only when we all get together,” said Zhang Xia, 38, an administrative assistant to a city in eastern Hangzhou.
Zhang said he grabbed his arms and legs and kicked his belly when he was taken away from the protest scene. After her short hospital visit, she took a train on her crutches and she left town immediately because she was afraid of her detention in Zhengzhou.
“We just started making statements about fairness, nothing else,” she said. “These brutal beatings and oppressions surprised us.”
