Thread by @WilliamYang120

"Tensions between #Shanghai residents and #China’s Covid enforcers are on the rise again, amid a new push to end infections outside quarantine zones to meet President Xi Jinping’s demand for achieving 'dynamic zero-Covid'." theguardian.com/world/2022/may…

Videos shared on #China’s social media platforms showed suspected Covid-positive patients forcibly quarantined in central facilities. In some neighbourhoods a single positive case could lead to residents in the entire apartment building be sent for quarantine.

Over the weekend, residents in at least four of Shanghai’s 16 districts reported receiving notices that told them they would no longer be able to receive food deliveries or leave their homes, prompting numerous complaints on social media.

“The virus itself is no longer scary, but the way the government enforced the policy has become the most frightening thing,” said one Shanghai resident, who wished to remain anonymous. “We had thought the lockdown could be eased this month, but now there’s no end in sight again.”

In the past few days, a number of videos shared on social media showed that health officials entered residents’ homes and sprayed disinfectants everywhere. This practice outraged many residents, who questioned the legality.

In one viral video, hazmat-suited enforcement officers ordered residents to be quarantined after a neighbour tested positive. “It’s not that you can do whatever you want – unless you’re in America. This is China,” one of the officers is heard saying.

“Stop asking me why, there is no why. We have to adhere to national guidelines.” The Guardian does not know the identities of the residents and whether they were eventually taken away.

In a separate video, a local resident addressed government health workers to abide by China’s law. The middle-aged man, clad in a red protective suit with a face mask and a face shield, pointed out that there was always a limit to the power government officials...

... are entitled to, and citizens’ rights should not be abused.

“Let me tell you,” the man said, “you can only use your power with the authorisation of law … You have to tell me which items in our country’s law allowed you to carry out your public power today?

Worried about Covid-prevention excesses, legal scholars have voiced their concerns. On Sunday, a long appeal letter urging the government to abide by China’s constitution was widely shared on social media.

Censors took down the article multiple times but many determined residents continued to post it.

The lead author of the letter, Prof Tong Zhiwei at Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law, said the restrictions and the way the authorities enforced them could lead to “some kind of legal disaster”.

“Pandemic prevention needs to be balanced with ensuring people’s rights and freedoms,” Tong wrote. “Local governments and officials need to stick to the constitution and laws, and cannot destroy the rule of law for convenience.”

“Like what we’ve seen in Wuhan in 2020 when the virus first emerged, citizens are protesting against the government’s blunt enforcement of lockdowns.

Shanghai has taken this dynamic to a new level, but we still don’t know how the government will respond in the end," said @Yangguobin.