Chinese Government Breaks Up Banking Protests In Henan Province

On July 10, 2022, several Chinese Twitter accounts shared footage from a protest staged by bank customers in Zhenghzhou City, in China's Henan province. The protesters demanded that local banks return their deposits from accounts that had been frozen and that the Henan provincial government be investigated for corruption. The protest was violently broken up by a group of "mafia" men who were apparently hired by the government to suppress protests.

Protestors: "Oppose the capricious power, oppose the Henan provincial government from colluding with the mafias to violently beat up depositors.

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"Mafia! Mafia! Mafia!

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"Mafia! Mafia!"

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Anonymous Protestor: "My eyes were beaten like this by the mafias in Henan — men in black, men in white, but not in police uniforms. Then I was pulled onto this bus. There are four policemen on the bus... Or three policemen... I can't see it clearly. And they wouldn't let me go to the hospital, and I don't know where they are going to take us."