Surveillance cameras at the doors. More security agents at the sentry boxes of the urbanizations. In some cases, phone calls to control their movements and follow them through the streets. In others, the ban on leaving their homes, talking to the media –especially foreigners– or posting comments on social networks.
For weeks, this has been the day-to-day life of numerous activists throughout China, particularly in the capital, where the 20th Communist Party congress will open tomorrow. In this five-year conclave, it is assumed that the current president, Xi Jinping, will be re-elected for an unprecedented third term. The authorities do not want anything or anyone to tarnish the event, which is why they have increased repressive measures to silence any critical voice.
One of the groups under siege is that of human rights lawyers. Mercilessly punished during the Xi era, its most relevant figures told The Guardian newspaper how these days they and their relatives are constantly subjected to intimidation and harassment at the hands of uniformed or plainclothes agents. “I guess that’s how they try to scare us,” said lawyer Yu Wensheng, who has already spent four years in prison after handling “politically sensitive” cases.
For his part, the veteran activist Hu Ju reported on his Wechat account that he has been forced to leave Beijing for the next ten days and that he fears that, after these forced vacations, anticovid measures will make it difficult for him to return home to attend to his sick mother.
The pressures also affect the “petitioners”, as ordinary citizens with complaints about civil issues (environmental problems, labor conflicts, expropriations…) who come to the capital to demand justice are known. Some have been forced to return to their place of origin. Others, who intended to go to Beijing these days, have been blocked before starting their trip. An employee of a copy shop near Tiananmen Square told Reuters how they had already denied their services to more than ten clients who in recent days had tried to print petitions or court documents about a conflict with the authorities or state companies. “We’ve been told to be more vigilant this month,” he noted.
But even such intense armor fails to plug all the cracks. This is what happened this Thursday in Beijing, where an unusual act of protest against Xi Jinping and the anticovid policies applied during the pandemic took place.
One of the banners hung on the Sitong Bridge, northeast of the capital, read in red characters on a white background messages such as “We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns and controls. We want respect, not lies. We want reforms, not the Cultural Revolution. Don’t be a slave, be a citizen.” The other, more concise, said: “Let’s go on strike to overthrow the dictator and traitor Xi Jinping.” In addition, the author of the posters burned some objects to probably cause a column of smoke that would attract the attention of pedestrians.
Police arrested the individual, whose identity and whereabouts are unknown, and immediately removed the banners. Meanwhile, censorship went to work at full speed to remove any mention of the protest from the networks. From Thursday, terms such as bridge , Sitong , brave man or courage are cut off. Searching for the word Beijing is also restricted: Weibo (the Chinese Twitter) only offers results from posts from accounts verified by the platform and not from common users. Yesterday the increase in guards on numerous bridges in the capital to prevent similar incidents was notable.
Meanwhile, another of the issues that generates the most bitterness is the increase in the restrictions imposed in the capital to control the coronavirus. Millions of residents are required to take a PCR test every three days or less, with controls at the entrance of public buildings and other venues. Officials have also placed limits on the number of people who can enter the city from outside, while trying to convince their neighbors not to leave these days. Some who did it in previous days have seen their health codes turn red, which prevents them from taking a train or plane back.
The frustration among some citizens has been aggravated in recent times by events such as the bus accident in which 27 people died while being transferred to a quarantine center. Although some time ago it was thought that after the congress was held the country would relax its zero covid policy, the latest signals issued by state media and authorized sources indicate otherwise. This is the case of the director of the panel of experts of the Health Commission, Liang Wannian, who this Thursday acknowledged that an exit schedule has not yet been set given the “uncertainty” generated by the virus and its mutations.
