WATCH: Chinese citizens protest against Zero Covid policy, clash with police in Guangzhou

Guangzhou (China): Since China became a Communist state in 1949, Chinese citizens have rarely displayed the courage and spine to protest against their government despite hamhanded and often cruel measures.

However, the Covid-19 policy seems to have changed the situation drastically.

Even as China is ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has chosen to deal with the crisis
with a series of stringent methods, including a rather harsh lockdown, as part of its Zero Covid policy.

The Zero Covid policy has been particularly harsh on the Chinese population with millions of Chinese citizens battling severe consequences across the length and breadth of China.

The industrial hub of Guangzhou in southern China has been one of the worst affected cities with the Zero Covid policy reportedly forcing thousands of Chinese citizens to go homeless.

According to the Zero Covid policy, if the Chinese government remotely changes the health passport of any of its citizens to yellow code, the hapless person will become homeless.

This is because the yellow code on his or her phone, a Chinese citizen is not allowed to go home, stay in a hotel or take any public transport. Even getting access to food may become a big problem.

Despite strict censorship by the Chinese government, several videos have emerged on social media showing clashes between Chinese citizens and the police in Guangzhou.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in the industrial hub of Guangzhou in southern China as public anger against the stringent Zero Covid policy of the Chinese government and the resultant harsh COVID-19 lockdown boiled over, three years into the coronavirus pandemic.

The violence in Guangzhou was a marked escalation from similar protests in Shanghai, Beijing and other Chinese cities over the weekend. The current wave of country wide protests in biggest wave of civil disobedience in China since Xi Jinping started his reign as president a decade ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Zero Covid policy has hit the Chinese economy hard and after decades of breakneck growth.

According to posts on social media platforms, the clashes in Guangzhou took place on Tuesday night when members of the public had an argument with policemen over lockdown curbs.

News agency Reuters reported that authorities in Guangzhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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