Hundreds of retirees took to the streets on Wednesday in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian to protest cuts in medical benefits, according to residents and social media posts, following widespread demonstrations against COVID curbs last year.
In the central city of Wuhan, hundreds of mostly elderly people could be seen outside the city’s central Zhongshan Park in video clips posted on social media.
A video from Wuhan verified by Reuters showed pushing and shoving between protesters and uniformed security personnel. Reuters could not immediately verify images of Dalian and some others from Wuhan that were widely shared on social media.
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The demonstrations come weeks before China’s annual parliamentary meeting in early March.
Retirees were protesting local reforms, including a recent cut to the monthly personal medical assistance allowance for retirees, from $38 a month to $12, according to Wuhan residents. It followed a protest on the same issue last week in Wuhan.
Some sang songs including the Internationale, popular during protests in China. Others held their phones up and recorded the event.
“This money is very little, but for the elderly it is life-saving money,” said Wuhan resident Zhang Hai, who did not attend Wednesday’s protest but said some of his friends did.
Protesters gather outside Zhongshan Park to protest changes to medical benefits in Wuhan, China, 15 February 2023 (REUTERS)
“People aren’t wealthy, so every little bit of money is extremely important,” he told Reuters.
While street protests over local issues are not unheard of in China, Wednesday’s events follow rare November demonstrations in cities across the country over China’s tough zero-COVID policy, which Beijing abruptly abandoned in December.
The protests come as many local governments are under a tax burden after COVID curbs devastated the economy and three years of spending on coronavirus controls depleted funds.
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In China’s health care system, some of the money goes to a personal medical benefit and other funds are pooled.
Wednesday’s protests in Wuhan and Dalian in northeastern China drew a heavy security presence, according to videos and images on social media.
Local authorities in both cities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Several Wuhan residents said they believed police knew about the protest in advance, as notices advising people not to attend had circulated on social media, including one seen by Reuters.
Many of Zhang’s friends who intended to attend were asked by local authorities to sign pledges “not to hold illegal protests, rallies or rallies in public spaces” or to post content about the protest, according to a copy of a notice seen by Reuters.
They were prevented from leaving their homes by police, Zhang added.
