Video of Shanghai residents screaming out their windows during strict COVID lockdown goes viral
By Jane Nam
A video recorded in Shanghai has gone viral for showing residents screaming out of their windows after over a week of total COVID-19 lockdown.
Author and radio host Patrick Madrid posted the video on Twitter on April 8, claiming it was sent to him the day before by his friend’s uncle. Several voices can be heard yelling out simultaneously from different locations.
The 1-minute, 29-second footage has since garnered over 7 million views and over 57,000 likes, as of this writing.
Many online users in Shanghai described locals’ desperation to leave, get food or walk their pets.
“My son and his partner have been stuck in their apartment for 10 days in Shanghai,” one user wrote. “Can’t even leave to walk their dogs. Food and water ran out today.”
The viral post was also retweeted by popular conservative psychologist and academic Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, who blamed the situation on “left wing authoritarianism.” He cited a study comparing left-wing authoritarianism with right-wing authoritarianism.
Another commenter shared a video of local authorities in hazmat suits posting “seals” to an apartment door. A CNN reporter based in Shanghai shared that residents would face “repercussions” if officials returned to their apartment and found the seal broken.
In another video circulating on popular social media platform Weibo, residents are heard singing and protesting the lack of supplies. A drone is then seen ordering people to “comply with COVID restrictions” and “control [their] soul’s desire for freedom.”
Some Twitter users criticized Shanghai residents for not disobeying the mandate.
“Who is physically stopping them [from] leaving their apartments… I don’t know who would have the [manpower] to stop all those people from leaving their homes,” one user said.
Another user wrote in agreement, “But it is also your own fault if people put up with [the mandate]. Weakness has its price.”
The lockdown, which began on April 1, has received widespread criticism for being too strict, blocking 26 million residents from leaving for any reason.
On Tuesday, however, some Shanghai residents were allowed to step foot outside of their homes as the city looked for temporary ways to ease the COVID-19 lockdown over concerns of its effect on the economy.
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