A video circulating on Chinese social media shows people being paraded in the street for violating the Chinese regime’s pandemic regulations. The extreme measure of public humiliation caused wide criticism online.
On Dec. 28, a video was circulated on YouTube and other mainland social media platforms showing four people in white protective clothing and masks, with placards displaying their photos and names hanging on their chests. Each was held by two police officers who were also wearing full protective gear as they were walked along the street surrounded by people and armed riot police.
Local people confirmed the incident to the Chinese language Epoch Times on Dec. 29 that there was indeed a parade of public shaming. One resident said that the location of the parade was Tunpan Township in Jingxi County of Baise City in Guangxi Province.
An online video shows the humiliation parade in Guangxi.
A villager in Tunpan Township told this publication that the people being paraded were from Vietnam. One of whom had tested positive for COVID-19 and quarantined for more than 20 days. “After they were out of quarantine, they were paraded on the streets. This is the first time I have seen such public humiliation here in my life. They risked everything just to survive.”
Some netizens revealed online that the small town is on the border between China and Vietnam. Four people were suspected of crossing the border. Among them, two Guangxi men were suspected of driving two Vietnamese men across the border and into China. They were intercepted by the police while heading to Nanning, the provincial capital of Guangxi. One of the Vietnamese men tested positive for COVID-19. Both were charged with illegally crossing the border and obstructing the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
The parade has caused an uproar on the internet. Many think that such an extreme measure is inappropriate. The Jingxi City Public Security Bureau and the Anning local government later responded that this was an on-site disciplinary warning activity, the punishment was as required, and there was nothing inappropriate. Jingxi Public Security also said on Dec. 28 that four people were suspected of smuggling people into China.
The Chinese language Epoch Times called the Guangxi Baise CDC to inquire about the incident, but the call was unanswered.
This publication also called the government official hotline in Baise, Guangxi and the CDC in Jingxi County, but staff members said that they knew nothing about it.
According to a commentator’s article published on Dec. 29 in Mainland China’s “Beijing News,” in 1988, China’s Supreme Court, the Supreme Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security had issued the “Notice on Resolutely Stopping Convicted and Undecided Criminals from Being Paraded.”
Li Yanjun, a citizen of Guangxi, said, “What the Communist Party says about governing the country by law is nonsense, and it’s all a lie. Is this law? The Chinese Communist Party has always been lawless, and it uses the means of struggle and persecution like what happened in the Cultural Revolution to scare the people and make everyone afraid: ‘You run and this is the consequence.’”
Commentator Wen Xiaogang told the Chinese language Epoch Times that such behavior is a humiliation to human beings, and even if these people commit crimes, they shouldn’t be treated that way. This looks like mainland China has gone back several decades and returned to the “Cultural Revolution” era.
