Shanghainians rebel against COVID-19 lockdown: videos show looting in search of food after 22 days of lockdown

Looting and protests broke out in Shanghai, as the Chinese communist regime's draconian restrictions to eradicate coronavirus cases left residents without food or basic hygiene products, while cases continue to rise.

The fact is that China's largest city and financial center has been closed for 22 days, despite warnings from public health officials around the world that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is so infectious that it cannot be eliminated with lockdowns.

Shanghainians are allowed to leave their homes only once a day to collect food and infected Chinese children have been separated from their parents in a desperate attempt to prevent the spread of the virus.

The 26 million people in lockdown are desperate for food shortages due to the lack of couriers to deliver, and uncertainty is growing about when the blockades might end. In this context of desperation, residents ransacked emergency food supply points, according to videos shared on the Chinese site Weibo, which were quickly censored by the Chinese regime within minutes of being released.

The images show crowds storming stores in search of food packages that had not been delivered.

Shanghai has been in the toughest lockdown in the world for more than three weeks since the start of the pandemic.

American lawyer Jared T. Nelson, who lives in the city, tweeted that only two people from each apartment building can go out each day to pick up food packages. Volunteers must wear full protection white suits and have two hours to finish the job.

Other videos published by the inhabitants of the area show crowds trying to break barriers placed by the authorities to prevent citizens from leaving their homes.

The Australian Financial Review correspondent in North Asia, Michael Smith, reported that the situation in Shanghai is frightening. “Millions of people are struggling to feed themselves, the elderly cannot access medicines, there are videos of riots circulating on social media. Many households depend on inadequate government food deliveries,” he said.

China's zero-virus strategy is under extreme pressure as the virus spreads across the country, with another outbreak in the northeast. Until March, China had managed to keep the number of daily cases in two or three digits, with hard localized closures, massive testing and travel restrictions. But last week, the number of daily infections reached unseen rates since mid-February 2020.

Chinese draconian measures have serious consequences for the confined. Residents of closed areas have complained about the lack of food and that access to hospitals is complicated. In addition, with borders practically closed and airline tickets reaching exorbitant prices, many families have not seen each other for more than two years.

Although China was the only major economy to grow in 2020, some sectors such as transport, tourism or hotels and restaurants are still not returning to their pre-crisis level. At the local level, lockdown measures led to factory closures and disrupted supply chains.

The few voices who dare to criticize this regime's policy are accused of collusion with abroad.

Last July, the prestigious virologist Zhang Wenhong suggested that we must “learn to live with the virus” and right after that he was the subject of research by his own university. And at the end of last December, the video of the “humiliation parade” was released to four people suspected of violating a rule against COVID.

The images show policemen who parade through the streets of Jingxi city, in southern China, four people wearing masks and protective suits, on whom they hung their photographs and names. Each suspect is held by two police officers wearing shields, masks and protective suits, surrounded by a circle of riot police officers, some of them armed.

All four were accused of transporting illegal migrants despite the fact that China has its borders practically closed due to the pandemic.

The United States warned this Saturday about the “arbitrary” anti-covid measures in China and reported that it will let some of its staff leave the consulate in Shanghai due to the outbreak it is under confinement to the city.

The State Department will allow non-essential personnel to leave its consulate in Shanghai “due to an outbreak of covid-19 cases and the impact of restrictions,” an embassy spokesman said in a statement. The statement warns its citizens to reconsider traveling to China “due to the application of arbitrary local laws and restrictions related to covid-19,” adding that the embassy in Beijing expressed concern about the measures to the Chinese government.

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