Epoch Times - Thousands Protest Long Term Lockdown in China’s Virus Hotspot | Epoch News | China Insider
Aired: 2021-02-23
Duration: 03:12


=== Lockdown Protesters Cry At Home (03:07) ===

[00:00:00]  Gaochian District of Shuzhencheng City, Hebei Province is one of the hotspots of the latest COVID-19 resurgence in China.
[00:00:09]  The district of roughly 800,000 people has been under strict lockdown since early January.
[00:00:16]  Mr.
[00:00:17]  Lee, a resident of the Heidong Oasis residential community in the district, recently spoke to the Epoch Times.
[00:00:23]  He revealed that after being stuck indoors for over 40 days, thousands of residents protested against the lockdown on February 7th and clashed with local government workers.
[00:00:38]  Many people joined the quarrel.
[00:00:40]  The conflict and clash lasted from around 1pm to 6pm.
[00:00:44]  This kind of life is really unbearable.
[00:00:47]  Some elderly people, men and women, literally cried when begging the government workers.
[00:00:53]  We're just one step away from kneeling down.
[00:00:56]  Someone said, on the second day of the lockdown, we were told that we couldn't go downstairs anymore.
[00:01:00]  I heard that someone broke this rule and took a walk inside the complex.
[00:01:05]  A police car came and the person refused to go back home.
[00:01:08]  The police then took him away.
[00:01:10]  On January the 27th or 28th, the rule was further enforced.
[00:01:15]  All building entrances were sealed with paper strips.
[00:01:18]  The supermarkets were also sealed.
[00:01:20]  The price of food is very expensive now.
[00:01:22]  In addition, the delivery service will reject you if you only order 1 or 2 pounds of vegetables.
[00:01:28]  You have to order more than 10 pounds to arrange the delivery service.
[00:01:32]  However, the prices are so high.
[00:01:34]  Twice as high as prices during regular time.
[00:01:37]  There are 15 buildings in our complex with a total of about 10,000 residents.
[00:01:42]  We can't go to work.
[00:01:43]  And soon it'll be two months without salaries.
[00:01:46]  We all need to support our families.
[00:01:48]  There are home mortgages and car loans.
[00:01:51]  It's really tough.
[00:01:52]  The last day I was at work was January the 5th.
[00:01:54]  The lockdown was enacted shortly after I returned home on the evening of January the 5th.
[00:01:59]  I've been staying at home ever since.
[00:02:01]  We are indeed depressed.
[00:02:03]  Under lockdown for such a long time, it's very depressing.
[00:02:06]  We have taken nucleic acid tests 13 times now.
[00:02:11]  There are no confirmed cases in our complex at all.
[00:02:13]  It's such a waste of money to take the tests.
[00:02:16]  After doing nucleic acid testing so many times, my throat has been stabbed to the point of having inflammation.
[00:02:23]  The key issue is that you have to live and you can't make money.
[00:02:26]  Some people have family to support and mortgages and car loans to pay.
[00:02:30]  People are going crazy.
[00:02:32]  I just heard that some people in our community have already lost their jobs due to the lockdown, crying at home.
[00:02:39]  Meanwhile, the nearby Nagong City, another hotspot, was under the same pandemic control measures.
[00:02:45]  Mr.
[00:02:46]  Wang and Nagong told the Epoch Times that on February 10th, two days before the Chinese New Year, a 60-year-old man hanged himself.

=== No One Will Tell Us (00:18) ===

[00:02:53]  The specific circumstances were not disclosed by authorities.
[00:02:57]  The locals speculated that he could not bear life in isolation any longer and chose to end his life.
[00:03:04]  Wang said, I think I'm about to get depressed.
[00:03:06]  People are suffocating and going crazy.
[00:03:09]  No one will tell us when we can be released from lockdown.