Members of a “criminal gang” accused of taking control of local banks have been arrested in central China after rare protests over alleged financial corruption led to violent clashes between customers and authorities.
Four banks in Henan province, hit hard by the country’s economic slowdown, have frozen all cash withdrawals since mid-April, leaving thousands of small savers without money and sparking sporadic demonstrations.
In one of the largest rallies of its kind to date, hundreds gathered outside a branch of the People’s Bank of China in Henan’s capital Zhengzhou on Sunday demanding their money, according to several witnesses who asked not to be named.
Protesters held up banners accusing local officials and the police of corruption and called on the central government to “severely punish Henan,” video footage verified by AFP showed.
Local authorities did not immediately comment on the protests, but police in the nearby city of Xuchang said late Sunday that they had arrested members of an alleged “criminal gang” for their alleged involvement in a plot to seize control of local banks .
The gang conducted illegal wire transfers through fictitious loans and used their holdings — as well as “executive manipulation” — to effectively take over several local banks beginning in 2011, police said.
The province’s banking and insurance regulator also said late Sunday that it would “accelerate” plans to deal with the local financial crisis and “protect the legal rights and interests of the general public.”
Footage from Sunday’s rally showed protesters throwing objects, while a participant told AFP on Sunday protesters 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 was beaten by “gangsters” and dragged onto the bus by police.
Some protesters accused officials of colluding with local banks to suppress rallies, and provincial authorities were suspected last month of abusing the country’s mandatory health regulations to effectively keep protesters out of public spaces.
Demonstrations are relatively rare in tightly controlled China, where authorities enforce social stability at all costs and resistance is quickly suppressed.
But desperate citizens have occasionally managed to organize mass meetings, usually when their targets are local governments or individual corporations rather than the Communist Party itself.
The protesters in Henan drew widespread sympathy on Chinese social media on Monday, with many pointing fingers at local officials on the Weibo platform.
“Why do you treat ordinary people like this?” asked a Weibo user in a post on Monday.
“Please strictly investigate the Henan government.”
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