Videos circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend showing Shanghai residents arguing or scuffles with hazmat-clad workers and police officers while they are forcibly placed in government quarantine. Many have since been removed by censorship after sparking public anger.
The outcry comes as authorities appear to have scaled back efforts to ease restrictions in parts of the city despite a drop in new infections, as local officials come under pressure to curb community transmission of the virus.
Under the new strict guidelines, even residents with negative Covid tests can be placed in a centralized government quarantine. According to social media posts and local government notices circulating online, entire blocks of flats in several parts of the city have been classified as a health risk, with all residents being evicted from their homes and quarantined after one positive case.
A viral video shows residents arguing with cops, who appeared in hazmat suits at their doors to quarantine them after someone else on their floor tested positive.
“From now on, people living on the same floor (as Covid cases) must be transported (in quarantine),” says a police officer in the video.
“It’s not like you can do whatever you want unless you’re in America. This is China,” another police officer says sternly, waving a bottle of disinfectant in hand. “Stop asking me why. There is no why. We must follow our country’s disease control regulations and policies.”
CNN cannot independently confirm that such a policy has been issued and has contacted the Shanghai Municipal Government for clarification. CNN was unable to identify the people who took the video and doesn’t know if they were later quarantined.
According to online notices, some neighborhoods have imposed so-called “periods of silence” of two or three days during which residents are not allowed to leave their homes. Those residents have also been temporarily banned from ordering groceries and essential necessities online, prompting renewed fears of food shortages.
The escalation follows personal intervention by Xi, who on Thursday issued what many interpreted as a threat to opponents of the zero-Covid policy, making it clear that he “questions or denies actions that distort our country’s epidemic prevention policy.” would not tolerate.
Xi also urged officials to demonstrate a “deep, complete and comprehensive understanding” of the policy, warning them of “insufficient awareness, insufficient preparation and insufficient work” in implementation.
Hours after Xi’s speech, the Shanghai City Communist Party Committee met Thursday night to study his instructions. And at a news conference on Sunday, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission said the city is at a “critical moment” for controlling the outbreak.
“It’s like sailing against the current in a boat; we must advance or be pushed downstream. We must not relax or slack off,” said Zhao Dandan, a deputy director of the commission. Zhao also vowed to “resolutely implement the requirement of ‘housing everyone who should be admitted’ and ‘quarantining everyone who should be quarantined’ to stop the spread of the epidemic in the community as soon as possible.”
The tightened quarantine requirements have caused desperation for many residents of the financial hub, millions of whom have been subjected to a harsh lockdown for more than six weeks.
Tong Zhiwei, a law professor at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, condemned such measures as unconstitutional in an essay widely shared on social media.
“Any action that forcibly sends residents to a centralized quarantine is illegal and should be stopped immediately,” Tong wrote.
“The state of emergency is a legal status and can only exist after a legitimate organization has declared it in accordance with the Constitution; it absolutely cannot be arbitrarily decided or casually declared by any institution or official,” Tong wrote.
Around the same time, Liu Dali, a Shanghai-based financial attorney at a leading Chinese law firm, wrote a public letter calling on the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress — the city’s legislature — to take measures to protect civil rights from an epidemic like forced quarantine.
Screenshots of both letters were deleted from the Chinese internet after they attracted widespread attention. China’s Twitter-like Weibo has been banned from posting Tong’s verified account since Monday. A hashtag of his name was also censored.
In lightly veiled sarcasm, some netizens shared a 2015 article from People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, which quoted Xi months after he took over the helm of the party in 2012: “No organization or individual has Privilege to be above the Constitution and the law. Any act contrary to the Constitution and the law must be investigated and held accountable.”
As the post made the rounds, users were soon greeted with a garish message stating, “Content has been removed by the author.”