Nine coronavirus lockdown enforcers in China are under arrest stemming from a video showing them appearing to attack residents as the country continues to enforce stringent coronavirus restrictions.
The state workers wearing hazmat suits can be seen in the video, taken on November 7, dragging locals across the pavement before beating them, in the city of Linyi in the south of China’s Shandong province, according to Viral Press.
The Lanshan Police Department said that nine of the pandemic workers had been arrested for using "excessive force."
"The public security force will severely crack down on illegal and criminal acts that infringe upon citizens' personal safety and other legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law, and spare no effort to maintain social harmony and stability," the police said in a statement.
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Despite the rest of the world mostly moving on from coronavirus lockdowns, China has continued to enforce strict zero-tolerance restrictions in many areas of the country.
The tight restrictions have sparked occasional clashes between residents and local Communist Party officials, who are threatened with punishment if reported cases in their areas of jurisdiction climb above levels deemed acceptable.
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Chinese residents have used social media to highlight the brutal crackdowns on many occasions, including in September, when viral videos showed civilians being forced to stay inside their dwellings even as a 6.8 earthquake was rocking China's Sichuan Province.
On Thursday, the country's new top leadership body reaffirmed Beijing's "dynamic-zero" COVID-19 policy on Thursday, saying that epidemic prevention measures must not be relaxed, according to state media.
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"We must take more resolute and decisive measures to curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible and restore normal production and normal life as soon as possible," the Politburo Standing Committee said, according to news agency Xinhua.
THE Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
