Chinese police “beat up” citizens who gathered to protest the freezing of their bank accounts due to COVID-19 policies on Sunday, according to protesters. The protests focused on three banks serving mostly rural communities that have frozen millions of dollars in accounts since April. About 1,000 protesters gathered to demand the release of their funds outside the Zhengzhou branch of China’s central bank, but say they were met with violence. “I feel so upset that I can’t even explain it to you,” one protester, surnamed Zhang, told Reuters. “They didn’t say they would beat us if we refused to leave. They just used the loudspeaker to say we were breaking the law by reporting. This is ridiculous. It’s the banks that are breaking the law,” added the protester. CHINA POSES ‘BIGEST LONG-TERM THREAT TO ECONOMIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY,’ FBI DIRECTOR Wray WARNS In this photo released by Yang on Sunday, July 10, 2022, people hold banners and shout slogans during a protest at the entrance of a branch of China’s central bank in Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan Province. A large crowd of angry Chinese bank depositors confronted police on Sunday, some reportedly injured as they were dragged away, in a case that has drawn attention because of earlier attempts to use a COVID-19 tracking app to stop them from mobilizing. (AP Photo/Yang) (AP) CHINA’S XI JINPING IS A ‘SILENT PARTNER’ IN PUTIN’S ‘ATTACK’ ON UKRAINE, CIA DIRECTOR BURNS WARNS Even with more than a thousand protesters, the police outnumbered the protesters about three to one, according to Zhang. The Chinese government has launched investigations into the pair of banks, Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank and Shangcai Huimin Country Bank, but has not announced further action. The economic turmoil comes as China is already trying to eradicate clusters of COVID-19 outbreaks within its borders. Officials in the city of Wuxi shut down in-person dining and many other indoor activities last week. Authorities are also encouraging residents to work from home and not leave the city. China’s “zero COVID” approach to the pandemic means that even small outbreaks lead to widespread lockdowns. The policy led to unrest in Shanghai, where lockdowns lasted for months and access to food and other daily goods became severely strained. Government officials supported it Shanghai was COVID-free in early June, but hundreds of thousands of residents remained in lockdown. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Authorities in Shanghai say the city suffered more than 500,000 cases from April to the end of May.
