China’s Henan bank customers face harassment, job loss over protests

SHANGHAI: A woman who had been injured on Weekend (Jul 12) when a protest by approximately 1, 000 financial institution customers in main China was strongly broken up by protection personnel said the lady continues to face nuisance.

Nevertheless bearing bruises from kicks to her front and back, the 32-year-old woman surnamed Geng said the lady was awoken on Tuesday morning by loud knocks on her behalf door from men claiming there was the water leak in her flat.

“I don’t know how they found me, they came to my house, but it’s under our mum’s name, inch said Geng, who have asked only that her surname be used given the awareness of the matter.

She said the girl threatened to leap out of the window if they tried to enter, then hid in her room for three hours as the two men in black, who she could not recognize, stood watch outside of the apartment complex prior to she left from a different stairwell.

Other customers of the 4 small Henan state banks where a minimum of US$1. 5 billion in deposits happen to be frozen since Apr have also reported harassment in a case that has dramatically exposed strains in a corner associated with China’s financial sector.

“It’s occurred to a lot of investors – they want to wipe our phones, they want to take the videos and the proof, ” said Geng, who along with the girl mother had transferred 110, 000 yuan (USW$16, 354) at one of the banks.

Customers, who have produced increasingly assertive in calling attention to their grievances, told Reuters that police, village Communist Party authorities and employers got visited them and their families in latest weeks to pressure them not to protest, including threat associated with job loss.

“The village party secretary will go to your house, will talk to your family and say that you’re making trouble, ” stated one, surnamed Chen, who said he or she was accused of being an overseas secret agent for speaking with foreign media.

Right after Sunday’s protest within the provincial capital Zhengzhou turned violent, police announced that they had caught a number of accomplices in the scheme masterminded simply by Lu Yi, whom they said used the banks to illegally siphon off money through a company he handles called Henan Xincaifu Group.

The statement did not state if Lu had been among those arrested. Nobody could be immediately achieved at the group’s official email address for opinion.

Police in Henan province and China’s Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for even more comment.

Although it is unclear whether or not the Henan bank difficulties have wider implications, China’s thousands of little and mid-sized loan companies are crucial to the domestic financial sector and also have close linkages through inter-bank borrowing channels.