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BEIJING: Africans in southern China’s largest city say they have become the target of suspicion and have been subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines, and massive tests of coronavirus as the country intensifies its fight against imported infections.
China says it has largely slowed its outbreak of COVID-19, but a recent group of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou led to alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.
Local authorities at the 15 million industrial center said that at least eight people diagnosed with the disease had spent time in the city’s Yuexiu district, known as “Little Africa.”
Five were Nigerian citizens who faced widespread anger after reports emerged that they had broken through a mandatory quarantine and had been to eight restaurants and other public places instead of staying home.
As a result, nearly 2,000 people they came into contact with had to be tested for COVID-19 or quarantined, state media said.
READ: China reports 46 new cases of coronavirus, compared to 42 a day earlier
Guangzhou had confirmed 114 imported coronavirus cases as of Thursday, 16 of which were African. The rest were returning Chinese citizens.
It has led Africans to become targets of suspicion, mistrust and racism in China.
Several Africans told AFP that they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and rejected by hotels.
“I have been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat … I cannot buy food anywhere, there are no stores or restaurants serving me,” said Tony Mathias, a Ugandan exchange student who was forced to leave your apartment. Monday.
“We are like beggars on the street,” said the 24-year-old.
Mathias added that the police had not given him information on evidence or quarantine, but instead told him “to go to another city.”
Police in Guangzhou declined to comment when AFP contacted them.
A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his department earlier this week.
“Wherever the police see us, they will come and chase us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?” he said.
Other Africans said the community had undergone massive COVID-19 tests despite the fact that many had not recently left China, and had been arbitrarily quarantined at their home or in hotels AFP / Fred DUFOUR
GROWTH TENSIONS
Other Africans said the community had been subjected to massive COVID-19 tests despite the fact that many had not recently left China, and had been arbitrarily quarantined in their homes or hotels.
China has banned foreigners from entering the country and many travelers are being sent to 14-day quarantines, either in their own accommodation or in centralized facilities.
READ: Coronavirus found in air samples of up to 4 meters from patients: study from China
Thiam, a Guinean exchange student, said police ordered him to stay home on Tuesday, even after he tested negative for COVID-19 and told officials that he had not left China in nearly four years.
He believes the measures are specifically and unfairly targeted at Africans.
“All the people I have seen in the test are African. The Chinese walk freely, but if you are black you cannot go out,” he said.
Denny, a Nigerian merchant evicted from his apartment on Tuesday, said police transferred him to a hotel to quarantine him after spending several days sleeping on the streets.
“Even if we test negative, the police won’t let us stay (in our accommodation) and they don’t give a reason why,” he said.
“CRAZY FEAR”
The infections in Guangzhou have sparked a torrent of online abuse, with many Chinese internet users posting racist comments and calling for all Africans to be deported.
Last week, a controversial cartoon depicting foreigners as different types of trash to classify went viral on social media.
“There is a fear that someone who is African may have been in contact with someone who was ill,” said David, a Canadian who lives in Guangzhou and declined to give his full name.
READ: WHO warns of dangers of premature lifting of COVID-19 restrictions
China’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged this week that there were some “misunderstandings” with the African community.
“I want to emphasize that the Chinese government treats all foreigners in China equally,” spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday, urging local officials to “improve their working mechanisms.”
Complaints in Guangzhou contrast with a welcome reception of Chinese efforts to fight coronavirus across the African continent, where Beijing this week donated medical supplies to 18 countries.
“When China commits Africa, it is the central government that does it, but when it comes to immigration enforcement that occurs at the local level,” said Eric Olander, managing editor of the China Africa Project.
“That explains why there is an inconsistency in the more optimistic messages we hear about Chinese diplomacy on the mainland and the increasingly difficult realities facing African merchants, students, and other expatriates in their daily life in China.”
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