China Massive protest erupts in Chinese Henan province over frozen accounts of 4 local village banks

xizhimen

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Massive protest erupts in Chinese Henan province over frozen accounts of 4 local village banks

Four banks in Henan province have frozen all cash withdrawals. Local police said it had arrested members of a "criminal gang" accused of taking over local banks and making illegal transfers through fictitious loans.

The Henan demonstrations have prompted an outpouring of support, with many on the Weibo platform pointing the finger at local officials.

Some of Sunday's demonstrators accused officials of colluding with local banks to suppress rallies.

 

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Henan: Officials pledge to release funds after China bank protest​


Tue, 12 July 2022, 12:17 pm

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Authorities in China's Henan province say they will start releasing money to customers who have had their funds frozen by several rural banks.

The announcement came just a day after a rare protest in Henan's capital, Zhengzhou, turned violent.

Payments will be made in batches from this Friday, local regulators say.

The four banks that were the focus of the protests are believed to have frozen a total of 39bn yuan ($5.8bn; £4.9bn) of deposits.

In a statement on Monday, the Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the Henan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Bureau said "advance payments" would be made to customers through a local association supervised by China's central bank.

The regulators asked customers to contact the association from 09:00 local time (02:00 BST) this Friday.

On Sunday, a protest over the frozen deposits - which was attended by hundreds of people - in Henan's capital, Zhengzhou, turned violent after a clash with a group of unidentified men.

The demonstrators said the banks had frozen their deposits because of supposed upgrades to their internal systems in April, but had not communicated with them since then.

Local media reports said police were present at the demonstration and had told protesters to leave.

Videos on social media showed a group of unidentified men - believed to be security personnel but dressed in plain-clothes - shoving the protesters and throwing water bottles at them.

One protester, who had travelled to Henan for the demonstration, told BBC Chinese about the protestors being attacked.

"A group of people without police uniforms [on] rushed towards us. They hit us hard, especially [the] men," said the protester, who wanted to be identified only as Ms Wang.

Separately on Sunday, local police said that they had arrested "a number of suspects" linked to the case and were making progress in their investigations into the banks, without mentioning the protests.

The police said the suspects were believed to have controlled a number of banks in the province through a parent company.

In April, the New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, and Yuzhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank froze their customers' deposits.

Since then, thousands of customers have been travelling to Zhengzhou to attempt to withdraw their money.

Small protests have erupted, culminating in a large demonstration on 23 May where thousands took to the streets, before police shut it down.

Some bank customers who had visited Zhengzhou later said they had experienced issues with their Covid-19 tracing app, which is necessary in many Chinese cities for residents to enter buildings and shops, use public transport or leave the city.

 

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China to repay customers hit by bank scam that sparked protests​

Regulator says customers at five rural banks whose funds have been frozen since April will get their money back from Friday.

12 Jul 2022

Chinese authorities have promised to repay bank customers victimised by a financial scandal that has sparked rare public protests in central China.

Customers at five rural banks in Henan and Anhui provinces whose funds have been frozen since April will get their money back, the national banking regulator said in a statement on Monday.

Clients with deposits of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,442) will be repaid starting on Friday, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said, with arrangements for repaying other customers to be announced separately.

Fundings involved in “illegal or criminal” activity will initially not be repaid, the regulator said.

The announcement comes after police on Sunday said they arrested a number of suspects alleged to have taken control of several banks through a group company and made illicit transfers through fictitious loans.

The banking scandal, which is believed to be one of China’s biggest ever financial scams, has sparked a series of protests in recent months that authorities have met with force.

On Sunday, an estimated 1,000 depositors gathered outside People’s Bank of China in the city of Zhengzhou to demand their money back, following similar demonstrations in May and June.

Videos circulating online showed demonstrators being beaten and dragged by unidentified men dressed in white.

Some protesters have accused local police and officials of colluding with the banks, including by using the country’s COVID health pass to restrict them from public places.

In June, authorities in Zhengzhou punished five officials for changing the health codes of more than 1,300 customers to prevent them from using public transport and entering public spaces.

 

xizhimen

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In almost every protest in China, people hold up Mao's portraits, in average Chinese people's minds, Mao was a great incorruptible leader that no contemporary Chinese leaders can match up to, protestors carry Mao's portaits to shame current leaders.

3 thousand protesters chanted together: " Li Keqiang, investigate Henan"!

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Jagdflieger

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...Videos circulating online showed demonstrators being beaten and dragged by unidentified men dressed in white.....
Any information as to who these "men in white" were, and responding police-action towards this group?
 

Jagdflieger

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Banks securities? social media demands their identities too, we'll see.
I guess a mix of Bank security and local government related security - I was just wondering about action (if any at all) during the fighting by the police towards this group.

Well anyway, Xi still has a lot off cleaning up to do - especially on the provincial government level.
 
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