Chinese retirees take to the streets to protest health insurance cuts

By Martin Quin Pollard and Laurie Chen

BEIJING, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Hundreds of pensioners took to the streets of the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Dalian on Wednesday to protest against cuts in health care benefits, according to residents and social media posts, following widespread protests last year due to COVID 19 cuts.

In the central city of Wuhan, hundreds of mostly elderly people protested outside Zhongshan Central Park in videos posted on social media.

Video in Wuhan verified by Reuters showed scuffles between protesters and uniformed security personnel. Reuters could not immediately verify images of Dalian and others from Wuhan widely shared on social media.

The protests come weeks before China’s annual parliamentary meeting in early March.

Retirees were protesting local reforms, including the recent reduction of the monthly allowance for personal health benefits for retirees from 260 yuan ($38) a month to 83 yuan, according to Wuhan residents. The protest followed another for the same reason last week in Wuhan.

Some sang songs like the International, popular in protests in China. Others held up phones and recorded the deed.

“This money is very little, but it saves the lives of the elderly,” said Wuhan resident Zhang Hai, who did not attend Wednesday’s protest, but some of his friends did.

“People are not prosperous, so every little bit of money is hugely important,” he told Reuters.

While street protests over local issues are not unusual in China, Wednesday’s events followed rare protests in November in cities across the country over China’s tough ‘zero infection’ COVID-19 policy. , which Beijing abruptly abandoned in December.

The protests come at a time when many local governments find themselves in dire fiscal straits after COVID-19 restrictions ravaged the economy and three years of spending on coronavirus control drained funds.

In China’s health benefit system, part of the money goes to a personal medical allowance and other funds are pooled.

Protests in Wuhan and Dalian in northeast China on Wednesday drew a heavy security presence, according to videos and images posted on social media.

Local officials in both cities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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.

Several of Zhang’s friends who planned to attend were asked by authorities to sign a pledge “not to hold illegal demonstrations, gatherings or demonstrations in public spaces” or post content about the protest, according to a report. copy of a notice he saw. access.

The police forbade them from leaving their homes, Zhang added.

(1 dollar = 6.8381 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard, Laurie Chen, Yew Lun Tian; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom)