It's a six minute video.
A long sequence shot of Shanghai filmed from the air unfolds in black and white.
All the rest are words: a succession of sounds taken from press conferences, videos posted on social networks or phone calls from residents.
Entitled “Voices of April”, this viral video which presents the repercussions of the confinement of Shanghai on its inhabitants was erased from the Chinese internet by the censors, arousing the incomprehension and even the anger of Internet users on Saturday.
This morning on #franceinfo channel 27 while the population of #Shanghai sees neither the end of #Confinement nor a relaxation of measures misunderstanding / exasperation grow “the voice of April” video gone viral censored then re-posted then censored, explanation to be continued pic.twitter.com/a2P9hJRWAy
— Arnauld Miguet (@arnauldmiguet) April 23, 2022
This document begins with the voices of politicians declaring, at the start of the epidemic outbreak in March, that a short preventive confinement is not desirable, because of its economic repercussions.
This initial hesitation led to the explosion in the number of positive cases, which finally triggered the current confinement which is expected to last for many weeks.
Read alsoContainment in Shanghai: “We exchange cabbage for rice”, mutual aid is organized to feed itself
The video presents the repercussions with about twenty sound clips: confined inhabitants who are unable to obtain food, medicine or go to the hospital;
a man prevented from returning to his confined neighborhood;
or a woman describing the chaos in quarantine centres.
The video was massively shared Friday evening on the WeChat social network.
But the censors managed to erase all traces of it in a few hours, even if it manages to be republished.
“The author just presents raw facts.
There is nothing provocative!
“, Annoyed Saturday a user of the social network Weibo, where discussions on the subject are almost completely censored.
“This video is nothing special.
Its contents were already known.
But the fact of seeing that even that is censored, it bothers me.
That's why I reposted it on my feed,” wrote another user.
23,000 new contaminations announced this Saturday
China's economic capital, populated by 25 million people, is facing its worst outbreak of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday 12 new deaths and more than 23,000 new positive cases in Shanghai.
This is a rebound of almost 6,000 cases from the previous day.
Local authorities attribute this new increase in particular to overcrowding in certain old residential buildings, where kitchens and toilets are shared.
Almost all Shanghainese have been confined to their homes since early April.
Many residents have difficulty getting supplies of fresh produce and seeing a doctor.
