Beijing: Armed riot police in South China have attracted four violators of Covid regulations through streets, country media reported Wednesday, which lead to criticism of the severe government approach.
China prohibits such public emotions in 2010 after decades of campaign by human rights activists, but the practice has reappeared as a regional government struggling to enforce national zero-covid policy.
Four suspects masked in Hazmat’s suit – bringing placards that display their photos and their names – on Tuesday in front of the big crowd in the city of Jingxi Guangxi region, Guangxi News State said.
The event’s photo showed each suspect held by two police officers – wore a face shield, mask and Hazmat suits – and surrounded by police circles in the teeth of riots, some held weapons.
The four were accused of transporting illegal migrants while the Chinese border was still closed because of the pandemic, the newspaper said.
Jingxi is near the Chinese border with Vietnam.
Public rulers are part of the disciplinary steps announced by the local government in August to punish those who violate health rules.
Guangxi News said the parade gave the “real life warning” to the public, and “blocking the crime related to the border”.
But it also causes a counterattack, with official outlets and social media users criticize a heavy approach.
Despite Jingxi “Under extraordinary pressure” to prevent the cases of imported coronavirus, “this step seriously violates the spirit of the law supremacy and cannot be permitted to occur again,” said the Beijing news of the Chinese Communist Party told Wednesday.
Another suspect accused of illegal smuggling and human trafficking has also been paraded in recent months, according to a report on the Jingxi government website.
Videos from a similar parade in November showed a crowd of people watching two prisoners held while a local official read out their crime in the microphone.
They then looked marched on the streets in their hazmat suits, flanked by the police in the teeth of the riot.
And in August, dozens of armed police were seen marching the suspect through a walk to the children’s playground.