Coronavirus: residents of Hubei community defy lockdown to protest against overpriced food...
After weeks of quietly accepting a government-enforced lockdown, the patience of some residents of a Chinese city close to the epicentre of the
coronavirus outbreak finally ran out on Thursday, as they gathered to protest against the high prices they say they are being forced to pay for their groceries.
For the past several weeks, the supply of food to the tens of millions of people forced to live in isolation across Hubei province has been carefully controlled by local government agencies.
But many residents of Yingcheng, a city of 600,000 people about an hour’s drive from Wuhan, considered the goods on offer to be overpriced.
So when a man was detained by the police for providing the same products at lower prices, they decided enough was enough.
Another resident, identified only as Zhou, said people were fed up at having to pay inflated prices for food and other essential items.
The situation had been going on for over a month, she said, adding that some of the vegetables provided through the official channels were old and no longer edible.
“We were so angry that we’d been deprived of choice, of access to cheaper and better products,” she said.
The protest appeared to be simply “against an injustice that most cannot afford”.
“When one’s income has been significantly affected by the lockdown and prices go up substantially, people just can’t afford not to find alternatives. And when this is met by police action, people get angry and upset. Normal human behaviour, which should be predictable.”
Tensions bubble over at Sea Mountain estate in Yingcheng after man is detained for providing alternative to government-sanctioned suppliers.
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