Images disseminated on social networks show employees of a COVVID test kits in the city of Chongqing throwing boxes on men in uniform.
MO12345LEMONDE With AFP
The popular discontent does not go down to China, despite the abandonment of its strict policy of “zero covid”. Clashes have taken place between the police and employees of a COVVID test kits in an industrial park in the city of Chongqing in the southwest of the country.
Images broadcast on social networks on Sunday, January 8 show people throwing boxes on a group of men in uniform, stealing what seems to be test kits. In another sequence, we can see a crowd in front of a line of police officers, at night, while speakers broadcast a warning asking them to “stop their illegal activities”.
A man who posted a video of the scene indicated in legend that many workers had not been paid. According to other publications, the pharmaceutical company Zybio, based in Chongqing, suddenly dismissed workers who had been recruited in recent weeks.
“All workers’ claims are economic in nature,” said a man who says “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist” in a video. He insisted on the fact that there was no political reason behind the demonstration.
a strong demand for screening kits
According to testimonies published on social networks, clashes took place on the night of Saturday to Sunday, even if AFP could not Determine the precise moment when the images were shot. Brown and white industrial buildings with separate patterns are visible in the background of the videos, which corresponds to the previous images of Zybio installations in the Jianqiao industrial park of the Dadukou district.
The hashtag “Chongqing Dadukou Pharmaceutical Factory” seemed to be censored on the popular Weibo social network on Sunday, with a single message from the previous day still visible describing the demonstration as an “interesting subject”.
China is experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, while the government has given up its zero tolerance strategy with regard to the virus, which caused a peak in the demand for screening and medication kits and drugs . Last month, the authorities restarted the production channels of more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, while certain companies hired staff to meet the increase in demand.