In an effort for force compliance with China’s strict Covid rules, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has started dragging citizens through the streets as a chilling message to others not to disobey orders.
CCP-controlled media outlets in Beijing are reporting that “armed riot police” in the southern part of China “have paraded four alleged violators of Covid-19 rules through the streets.”
Human rights groups are shocked at the “heavy-handed approach,” arguing that the Communist regime banned “public shaming” of dissidents way back in 2010.
Clearly “the practice has resurfaced” since the dictatorship ramped up efforts with a “national zero-Covid policy.”
According to state-run propaganda outlet Guangxi News, the four suspects were not just masked, they were encased in full body Hazmat suits and they held “placards displaying their photos and names.”
The “criminals” were forcibly dragged through the streets on parade Tuesday, December 28, which attracted a “large crowd” in Jingxi city, part of the Guangxi region.
The plan is to alert everyone along the border of the consecuences of breaking the rules.
China recently closed the border due to Covid outbreaks.
Masks and Hazmat suits
Event photos clearly confirm each suspect was “held by two police officers – wearing face shields, masks and Hazmat suits.”
They were also “surrounded by a circle of police in riot gear, some holding guns.”
The alleged crime is breaching Covid restriction to transport “illegal migrants.”
Because of the [Nu-Xi-] Omicron variant, “China’s borders remain largely closed.”
That induces people in Vietnam, across the shared border, to break the rules.
In August, the government announced new disciplinary measures to be used against those breaking Covid health rules which brought back the abandoned practice of public ridicule.
The Chinese equivalent of tar and feathers was meant to provide “a real-life warning to the public.”
Surprisingly, official outlets joined with social media users to criticize the display.
Nobody wants Covid to cancel the Olympics.
That’s why they acknowledge that Jingxi is “under tremendous pressure” to prevent imported coronavirus cases.
Even so, “the measure seriously violates the spirit of the rule of law and cannot be allowed to happen again,” Beijing News dared to print on Wednesday.
The editor will probably be dragged through the streets himself on Thursday.
