3 local banks in China's Henan province — Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin Country Bank and Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank — have frozen at least $178M of deposits, offering scant information on why or for how long, leaving firms
1/n reuters.com/markets/asia/c…
unable to pay workers and individuals locked out of savings.
While nominally small, China's numerous local banks have outsized significance because they lend to small and mid-sized firms so their activities can be an indicator of the health of the Chinese economy.
2/n
Disgruntled depositors in Henan protested outside the Henan office of China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission in Zhengzhou, demanding their deposits back…
This took place on May 20 or 19.
3/n
🔻 May 21: depositors in Henan rally outside the Henan office of China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission in Zhengzhou again, carrying protest placards that say “河南银行 还我存款” and shouting the same slogan.
4/n
🔻 depositors of 4 Henan banks are petitioning the government for help in getting their money back.
5/n
May 22: apparently more Henan bank depositors today
6/n
May 22: will they be able to get their money back from the Henan banks?
7/n
May 22: this is life in China, where your savings can be frozen without any reason or notice, and you have no idea if and when you can get them back.
8/n
Begging on your knees won’t work…
9/n
起來，不願做奴隸的人們！
10/n
May 23: Henan bank depositors decided to march to the Henan provincial government after petitioning for 35 days without getting any response from the authorities…
11/n
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The SWAT team is watching!
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The cops are already waiting…
17/n
Cops, SWAT and plain clothes are already there blocking the people at the intersection of Zhenghuang Road (正光路) and Minsheng Road (民生路) outside Zhengdong New Area People’s Hospital (郑东新区人民医院) and Zhengzhou Development Zone People’s Court (郑州开发区人民法院)
18/n
The Henan provincial government is not far from this intersection.
19/n
20/n
The petitioners are boxed in…
21/n
A man, most likely a government official, has shown up to speak to the bank depositors…
22/n
23/n
More cops are coming in… Lots of them.
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Plain clothes swoop in and subdue petitioners…
28/n
Several petitioners are being taken away by plain clothes…
29/n
A petitioner is being dragged away…
30/n
Petitioners are being shoved on to coaches waiting nearby…
31/n
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How many cops and plain clothes are there?
33/n
Not much news for ~3 weeks.
Henan authorities have just thwarted a protest planned by rural bank depositors across the country by turning their app-based health code red.
China is using its vast COVID surveillance infrastructure to stifle dissent.
34/n
reuters.com/world/china/ch…
5:27am June 25: rural bank depositors rally outside the Henan office of China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission in Zhengzhou again with protest placards.
They still can’t withdraw money from their accounts after more than 2 months.
35/n
June 25: the protest goes on…
36/n
🔻 June 25: the protest wears on in the afternoon.
Next time CCP mouthpieces claim how people live happily in China, you know what it’s like!
37/n
10am June 26: rural bank depositors are shouting “秦汉锋、快出来” — Qin Hanfeng [Bureau Chief, the Henan office of China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission], come out now! — outside the commission office in Zhengzhou.
38/n
🔻 no response from officials at the Henan office of China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission…
39/n
10:38am June 26: a protester passed out in the heat (34-36 deg C) but men in white shirts show up and stop medics who arrive at the scene from taking the patient away.
40/n
One of the men in white shirt attempts to snatch a recording device from a medic.
41/n
This white shirt could be a local policeman (gong an).
42/n
43/n
The angry depositors confront the white shirts.
44/n
afternoon of June 26: disgruntled depositors demanding a response from the banking regulatory commission…
45/n
🔻 morning of June 27: depositors marching through the streets of Zhengzhou
46/n
8:59am June 27
47/n
🔻 a protester is being taken away…
48/n
another protester is taken away…
49/n
5:11am July 10: hundreds of Henan rural bank depositors rallied at PBOC Zhengzhou branch and continued their monthslong protest.
50/n
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The depositors are yelling “黑社会” (mafia or gangsters) at the hundreds of cops marching in.
52/n
Cops are already standing guard as more of them move in. This video was taken from the other side with the depositors in the background.
黑社会！黑社会！…
53/n
6am July 10
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Lots of cops
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The depositors want their money back.
还钱！还钱！…
59/n
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Some officials show up.
62/n
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🔻 clashes broke out at 11am+!
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11:24am July 10: plain clothes are taking depositors away.
67/n
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🔻 depositors suffer injuries with bleeding wounds as the police crack down on the protest.
69/n
🔻 this depositor was punched or kicked in the eye… He’s being taken away but I have no idea what vehicle this is or where he’s going.
70/n
🔻 earlier footage when the police (both uniforms and plain clothes) charged into the protesters
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🔻 a protester is being subdued by multiple cops and then taken away.
76/n
Some of the depositors are taken away by cops.
77/n
🔻 this man says he’s beaten up by Henan mafia…
78/n
🔻 this wheelchair-bound depositor has apparently passed out. Disturbing.
79/n
🔻 bank depositors clashed with plainclothes policemen earlier on
80/n
July 11, Henan Banking & Insurance Regulatory Bureau + Henan Provincial Financial Regulatory Bureau: Henan Rural Credit Union’s agent will repay — on behalf of the rural banks — depositors with savings up to RMB 50K from July 15 on. Savings > RMB 50K will be handled later.
81/n
4 rural banks in Henan and 1 in Anhui are involved in the scam. A similar arrangement was announced by Anhui’s Bengfu (蚌埠) Banking & Insurance Regulatory Bureau and Bengfu Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau on July 11. ABC’s Bengfu branch will handle the repayments.
82/n
Typical CCP thinking: weakening the opposition by pacifying the majority — depositors with savings up to 50K yuan — so that they won’t take part in further protests even if wealthier depositors (>50K yuan) are not repaid in the end, which is likely.
83/n
barrons.com/news/china-ban…
It’s much easier for the authorities to deal with the much fewer depositors with >RMB 50K once the far more numerous small depositors are repaid. A few >RMB 50K depositors would probably be arrested and charged for picking quarrels and provoking trouble (寻衅滋事). CCP MO.
84/n
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