TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Several areas in Shanghai installed metal fences last weekend as part of the city's fight against a COVID-19 epidemic, prompting protests and outrage from some residents.
Workers in white safety gear built mesh wire fences and metal sheets to barricade roadways, residential neighborhoods, and even the entrances of some apartment complexes. During a month-long lock down, the bulk of the city's 25 million citizens were barred from leaving their homes, however certain neighborhoods have since reopened.
The barriers are used to limit movement and frequently leave only a tiny entry that can be readily guarded.
IS THE USE OF METAL FENCING OR BARRIERS NEW?
The barriers are new to Shanghai, although they have been used in other cities around China during the outbreak. For example, in early 2020, several neighborhood committees — the lowest tier of local government — installed metal sheets and walls to limit entrance points to dwellings in sections of Beijing. Wuhan, where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in December 2019, has installed metal barricades around the city.
They have been used in a variety of ways. The government would sometimes erect fence around whole neighborhood blocks, leaving just one or two entries. In other circumstances, they erect barriers in front of specific housing developments.
The barrier has also been widely installed in border areas, notably Stiffen, a city in the northeast that borders Russia. The metal barricades there effectively close off entire streets.
WHY DID PEOPLE IN SHANGHAI PROTEST?
Shanghai had not installed metal barricades on a large scale during the pandemic's first two years, instead focusing on more focused measures that did not rely on lock downs. This is no longer the case in the most recent epidemic, which is being driven by the highly transmissible omicron BA.2 strain. According to a widely circulated phrase, central authorities imposed a lock down on the whole city, preventing citizens from stepping even "one foot out the door."
Many Shanghai residents were irritated by obstacles blocking the entrances of their residential complexes, and some enraged locals distributed footage of demonstrations online. Residents leaving a building in Shanghai's Xuhui neighborhood ripped down a mesh fence blockade at the front gate and went furiously hunting for the security guard they thought was responsible for putting it up, according to one video authenticated by the AP.
Shanghai employs a tiered approach that divides communities into three groups according on the danger of transmission. Those in the first group are subject to the most stringent COVID-19 regulations and are the primary focus of the obstacles.
However, some Shanghai neighborhood authorities erect obstacles in locations that do not fall within the tightest category. One resident complained to authorities about the road closures near his apartment complex, claiming that his home did not fall into the first category. He and two other neighbors in his building complex attempted to prevent the workmen from installing the metal barricades, but were thwarted by a worker from the neighborhood committee. According to the man's statement, which he shared on WeChat, the police officer told the inhabitants they had no right to leave the flat.
"This profound sense of impotence. "Who can tell me if this place has any hope?" he wrote. He declined to be identified.
WILL THEY BE REMOVED?
Residents have been successful in certain cases in their protests.
Residents of one apartment complex in Shanghai's Putuo neighborhood fought back vehemently when the residential committee installed a U-lock on the door of their building on April 16.
"It happened extremely quickly, without warning, and it wasn't just the building." Below, every available space was obstructed. "It cut off any escape route," claimed a Shanghai resident who begged to be recognized only by her surname, Zhang. "If there was an accident or a fire, everyone would perish."
Residents in the building dialed 911 and the city's hotline. According to a message the committee gave to residents that Zhang handed to the AP, the residential committee yielded and put tape over the door instead, but cautioned residents that destroying the tape would result in legal penalties.
Many obstacles were lifted in Beijing after the city spent two years without a significant epidemic. However, apartment complexes with positive instances are now being blocked once more.
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