Many people in China’s Xinjiang region can’t leave to visit their hometowns during the week-long “October First” holiday– the regime’s “National day” under its restrictive zero-COVID-19 control measures. Meanwhile, protests broke out against the indefinite lockdowns.
Most of Xinjiang, which is in China’s northwest and home to an ethnic Uyghur majority, has now been under COVID-19 lockdown for more than 50 days.
Mr. Guo, who’s working in Urumqi, Xinjiang, but from Sichuan Province, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 29 that because his local area is still under lockdown, he is not allowed to return home to visit his family during the “October First” holiday this year.
“Nobody knows when the lockdown will be lifted. We have to do PCR test every day, are locked up at home, and are not allowed to leave the community,” he said. “Everyone is going crazy. It’s miserable.”
Guo added that some communities have been shut off again after their lockdowns were temporarily lifted.
Stuck Without Food
He said that due to the strict restrictions on movement, it’s very difficult to return home from Xinjiang.
“Going back to my hometown (Sichuan) is also troublesome. It’s not just because I have to pay for the quarantine; the key is that people there are afraid of those who return from Xinjiang [where there are reported COVID-19 cases]. It is also difficult to leave Xinjiang now. There are checkpoints in many places.”
Guo told The Epoch Times that he finally decided not to return to his hometown to visit his family this year, despite the prospect of not having food in Xinjiang.
“The Xinjiang government is very corrupt, and there are a lot of staff in the community offices selling rationed vegetable packs for 30 yuan a pack and take the money themselves. The price of everything goes up. Sometimes, you can’t find food to buy even if you have money, and sometimes the supermarkets and shops are not allowed to open. In short, it’s horrible,” he said.
Protests Against Indefinite Lockdown
Mr. Li, another resident of Urumqi, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 29 that the local areas have been under lockdown for more than two months. Recently, people in many places took to the streets to protest and were suppressed.
“Because many people do not have food and sources of income, they protested in both district and residential communities to demand the lifting of the lockdown. During the protest, pandemic control staff and residents clashed, and they took the residents away dragging them by their necks!”
Screenshot of a video of the protest against COVID-19 lockdown in Wangjiangliang,, Xinjiang on Sept. 25, 2022. (Screenshot from Weibo via The Epoch Times)
On Sept. 25 in Wangjialiang of Urumqi, a large number of people rushed to the streets to protest against the lockdown that have lasted nearly 50 days. Someone knelt down in front of government epidemic control staff and cried that “the whole family can’t live anymore.” The video quickly went viral. Under the pressure of public opinion, the local authorities lifted the lockdown in that area.
Li said: “Although lockdowns have been lifted in a few communities, it continues in many other neighborhoods. We have been quarantined at home for more than two months, and strangely, some residents in lockdown still tested positive. Many people just have a cold but test positive for COVID. It caused others living in the same neighborhood to be locked in at home as well.”
“The community office staff even told us that they did not understand why some residents still test positive even when all the residents have been quarantined at home for two months,,” he said.
Li also said that the lockdown seems indefinite. “The government office simply ignore our phone calls. You ask them when the lockdown will be lifted, and they just say wait. Now only [government appointed] volunteers are allowed to go out, and everyone else has to stay in at home.”
Zhao Fenghua and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
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