Several hundred pensioners protested today in the city of Wuhan, in central China, according to witnesses and images spread on social media, following changes made to the country’s public health insurance system.
Protests are rare in China, where authorities enjoy broad powers and a legislative framework that punishes protesters on vague charges like “subversion” or “causing disturbances”.
However, expressions of public anger do arise at times, including last year’s protests against the ‘zero cases’ policy of covid-19, which has since been dismantled.
On Wednesday, a crowd of protesters gathered outside Zhongshan Park in Wuhan, the second such gathering in the space of a week.
A video spread on social media showed security guards at the entrance to the popular tourist spot forming a human chain to prevent more protesters from entering.
Four witnesses confirmed to Agence France Presse that the demonstration took place. AFP was able to geolocate online images for areas around the park.
Reforms to China’s vast public health insurance system have reduced the amount of subsidies paid monthly to retirees, effective Feb.
The changes led to a separate demonstration by hundreds of retirees in front of Wuhan’s city hall last Wednesday.
Photos shared on social media appear to show local authorities meeting with some of the protesters.
The insurance reforms, introduced gradually since 2021, come at a time when local government finances are strained after nearly three years of the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ policy, which included carrying out mass nucleic acid tests. , on an almost daily basis.
The protests in Wuhan – a city of 11 million people where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019 – have been exacerbated by the fact that civil servants and government officials have not been affected by the reforms.
“Civil servants and employees of public institutions are still entitled to subsidized health care insurance in addition to the health insurance scheme offered by the employer,” political risk consultancy SinoInsider said in a note.
“CCP (Chinese Communist Party) senior officials and retirees have long had access to generous medical treatment at public expense and without having to pay for basic health insurance,” he added.
Local governments could “meet the protesters’ demands in advance” instead of getting involved in a protracted dispute, the company added.
