Covid-19 controls eased after protest in commuter town near Beijing
- Thousands of residents said to have gathered in Yanjiao demanding to be allowed back to work in the capital city
- Deputy mayor and police chief says they can now go to Beijing if they meet the requirements and ‘no one will be quarantined’
Thousands of residents gathered in Yanjiao, Hebei province on Wednesday to protest over measures that have made it difficult for them to enter Beijing in the past two years.
The town is located on the eastern outskirts of Beijing, about 35km from the city centre. Many people choose to live there because it is cheaper than Beijing, and about 100,000 residents need to make the daily commute into the capital.
But since the pandemic began, towns like Yanjiao have been subject to some of the toughest controls in China. Yanjiao residents have been unable to enter the capital for months this year even though there have been few cases in the region.
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Residents in Beijing satellite city protest against Covid rules limiting acess to Chinese capital
One resident at the protest, who gave his surname as Ma, estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 people had gathered near a checkpoint in the town. People entering Beijing used to go through security checks there – now it is where virus-related checks take place.