Members of a “criminal gang” accused of taking control of local banks were on Sunday arrested in central China after rare protests over alleged financial corruption sparked violent clashes between customers and authorities.
Hit hard by the country’s economic slowdown, four banks in Henan Province have since mid-April frozen all cash withdrawals, leaving thousands of small savers without funds and sparking sporadic demonstrations.
In one of the largest such rallies yet, hundreds gathered on Sunday outside a branch of the People’s Bank of China in Henan’s capital, Zhengzhou, demanding their money, said multiple witnesses who declined to be named.
Photo: AFP / courtesy of an anonymous source
Protesters held banners accusing local officials and police of corruption, calling on the central government to “give severe punishment to Henan,” video footage verified by Agence France-Presse (AFP) showed.
Although local authorities did not immediately comment on the protests, police in nearby Xuchang late on Sunday said that they had arrested members of an alleged “criminal gang” for their suspected involvement in a scheme to gain control of local banks.
The gang made illegal transfers through fictitious loans and used their shareholdings — as well as “manipulation of executives” — to effectively take over several local banks starting in 2011, police said.
Photo: Reuters
The province’s banking and insurance regulator also said late on Sunday that it was “accelerating” plans to tackle the local financial crisis and “protect the legal rights and interests of the broader public.”
Footage of Sunday’s rally showed protesters throwing objects, while one participant said that demonstrators were hit and injured by unidentified men.
Another video verified by AFP showed a crying woman complaining about her lost money being forced onto a bus by police.
Another man with a swollen eye said he had been beaten by “gangsters” and dragged onto the bus by police.
Some demonstrators accused officials of colluding with local banks to suppress rallies, and provincial authorities were suspected last month of abusing the country’s mandatory health code to effectively bar protestors from public spaces.
Demonstrations are relatively rare in tightly controlled China, where authorities enforce social stability at all cost and where opposition is swiftly repressed.
Desperate citizens have occasionally succeeded in organizing mass gatherings, usually when their targets are local governments or individual corporations rather than the Chinese Communist Party itself.
The demonstrators in Henan largely drew sympathy on Chinese social media yesterday, with many on Sina Weibo pointing the finger at local officials.
“Why are you treating ordinary people like this?” one user wrote. “Please strictly investigate the Henan government.”
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