They treat us like we're the virus": Africans evicted from housing in Chinese city
COVID-19 infections stemming from Guangzhou’s African community. As a result, many Africans were kicked out of hotels, barred from returning to their homes or even evicted. The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to several people affected.
In early April, a rumour started circulating that the African community living in the Yaotai neighbourhood, located in the centre of Guangzhou, had been put under lockdown after a large number of new COVID-19 infections. On April 8, local authorities publicly discredited these rumours; stating that there hadn’t been a second wave of infections and the community hadn’t been put on lockdown. They did say that there had been 111 new cases of coronavirus recorded amongst new arrivals to the city, which included five Nigerians. These rumours have had a massive impact on Africans living in Guangzhou.
"My housemate spent two nights sleeping outdoors”
Kingsley is a student in Guangzhou who is originally from Nigeria. He lives in a student residence in the city centre along with his roommate Francis (whose first name has been changed to protect his identity), who is from Togo. Kingsley says that Francis was barred from returning home on Tuesday.
He called me, saying that he was being prevented from entering our building. After several phone calls, I finally sent him some documents proving that he did indeed live in our building. But the security guard refused to look at it.
Unable to get into the building, my roommate ended up gathering with several other people who had also been kicked out of their buildings. They were stuck all night outside. And it got worse -- he told me that they were camping under a bridge when the police from a nearby station came and chased them out.
On Wednesday morning, Francis went to the hospital to get tested for COVID-19. I also took the test, but at home. When his test came back negative, he was finally able to come back home on Thursday morning, after spending two nights outside.
Francis, Kingsley's sroommate, took this picture when he was barred from returning home and had to spend two nights sleeping in the street.
Kinglsey's roommate Francis appears in this video posted on Twitter (see below). It shows a group of Africans walking next to a road in pouring rain in search of shelter.
“They cannot give us house, they cannot give us home, they cannot provide a place where we can stay. They are just following us, they want us to stay one place. After we have spent 15 days in the hotel, quarantine also for 15 days,” says the person who is filming the video (in English).
An outbreak of COVID-19 in Guangzhou province China and they blamed it entirely on d Nigerian immigrants &now forcing them out of communities&even out of d hotels dey initially quarantined them in. Kindly assist as our people r stranded in China
Businessmen forced out of their hotels
Francis met up with other Africans, who had also been forced out of their accommodation. A video posted on Twitter on April 6 shows the group standing in front of a police station. In one video, a distraught man films the police, repeating over and over, “Many Chinese [in] Africa. Chinese [in] my country. We no pursue Chinese. Look at what they are doing!” He even ends with a threat, “We’ll kill all Chinese.”
So what is #Guangzhou #Guangdong doing about the foreigners they chased out their hotels ? Is this not racism ?
Kingsley shared several similar videos with the FRANCE 24 Observers team. In one of these videos, the man filming points his phone at Chinese people wearing full protective gear in what looks like a hotel and says that he already completed a two week quarantine but is still being forced to leave. “We don’t know where they are taking us,” he says.
Another video shows men and women sitting in front of their hotel with suitcases. One of the men explains that they were kicked out of their hotel and that the police confiscated their passports.
"If the Nigerian government is doing anything, we beg, let them be fast so we can go out of this mess here in China. It is too difficult here,” he says.
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