Four people suspected of jeopardizing anti-Covid rules were forced to parade in a southern Chinese city, media reported. Some of them criticized a disproportionate approach.
China has practically eradicated the virus on its soil since last year at the cost of radical measures: limitation of international flights, mandatory quarantines on arrival, massive screenings and tracking of movements. When cases appear, the country imposes strict confinements, as in Xi’an (north) where 13 million inhabitants have been banned from leaving their homes for a week.
Meanwhile in China the CCP parades Covid rule breakers to humiliate them.
The scary thing is I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that tactic deployed in “democratic“ cities around the world soon too.
FACT: Beijing has led us since Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/RT7msIJKaX
– Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) December 29, 2021
Handcuffed suspects
The four suspects, in full suits, were forced to march through the streets of Jingxi, near Vietnam, on Tuesday in front of a large crowd, the local daily reported. Guangxi News. Each suspect, handcuffed behind the back, was escorted by two policemen also in white overalls, and carried a sign with their name and photo, according to images of the event, reminiscent of the public humiliations of the “Cultural Revolution”. The suspects are accused of having smuggled migrants into China, despite the border closures due to the epidemic.
Public humiliation is part of disciplinary measures announced in August by the local government to punish those who break health rules. The parade served as a “warning”, welcomed Guangxi News. But the measure drew the wrath of other official media, the daily Beijing News criticizing Wednesday a “serious attack on the spirit of the rule of law”.
Several humiliations in recent months
China banned this type of public humiliation in 2010, after decades of campaigns by human rights defenders. But the practice has tended to resurface lately. Suspects accused of smuggling and human trafficking have also been exhibited in Jingxi in recent months, according to documents from local authorities in Guangxi.
In November, a similar rally was organized in the presence of two detainees in full suits, supervised by police officers. An official then read in public the offenses with which they were accused.