Armored trucks were deployed to the streets of Henan, China during large-scale protests. The tanks were used to scare people protesting the release of frozen funds.
Reports claiming the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA’s) tanks are on the streets to protect local banks sparked after a local media stated so in Rizhao, Shandong Province.
The Bank of China branch in Henan told its customers that their savings were an investment product and couldn’t be withdrawn.
The display is a grim reminder of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Metro Massacre, where tanks and heavily-armed troops were sent in to clear Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Student protesters had been gathering there for weeks.
The crackdown on protesters has left hundreds, even thousands of them dead. These events have caused many debates around the world and have been heavily censored in media and online.
Though the first round of payments is due on July 15th, only a handful of depositors have been paid back. This poses a question about whether banks have the funds to pay back all those in need.
Over 1,000 of the bank’s depositors gathered outside the Zhengzhou branch for a protest on July 10. This was their largest protest yet.
Some bank depositors in Henan villages and towns were supposed to get their deposits back on July 15.
It is unclear how many depositors have made these payments. Chinese state media has not posted anything about the repayment.
At a time when stability is emphasized most and in the interest of Chinese President Xi Jinping, banks are not allowed to give money to protesters. Even if that means more protests will happen because they don’t have money.
The local governments’ significant source of revenue is coming from leasing land, which is mainly to real estate developers. With so many projects lying unfinished, construction companies chose not to buy more land since it impacted the government’s revenues.
A video was circulated in China with a professor lecturing on the conditions in 2022, where 2022 is a difficult year for 3 million families that lost their jobs, 4.6 million companies had closed down and 10.76 million college graduates were entering the market.
The corruption is not just limited to government officials at all levels, but also to developers. Furthermore, the corruption penetrates indefinitely up to the top leaders of the CPC, if they desire to carry out deep corruption investigations on unfinished buildings and real estate.
During a large-scale protest, the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force blocked protesters from accessing the local branch of the PBoC in Henan province.
Demonstrators protested, and their demands were ignored by the Chinese government. Hundreds of people, who are depositors in China, have staged demonstrations in the city of Zhengzhou.
