SHANGHAI, June 16 (Reuters) - A protest planned by hundreds of bank depositors in central China seeking access to their frozen funds has been thwarted because the authorities have turned their health code apps red, several depositors told Reuters.

The depositors were planning to travel to the central province of Henan this week from across China to protest against an almost two-month block on accessing at least $178 million of deposits, which has left companies unable to pay workers and individuals unable to access savings.

Rights groups have warned China could use its vast COVID surveillance infrastructure to stifle dissent. Without a green code on their smartphone app, citizens lose access to public transport and spaces such as restaurants and malls, as well as the right to travel across the country.

"They are putting digital handcuffs on us," said a depositor from Sichuan province surnamed Chen, who declined to use his full name for fear of government retribution.

The Henan provincial government and the Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for comment.

The National Health Commission said in a note sent to Reuters on Thursday the use of health codes should not be expanded without authorisation and cannot be assigned other than in connection with the prevention and control of the epidemic.

After recent COVID outbreaks, some regions in China have asked travellers to register their plans online.

A man surnamed Liu, who lives in Hubei province, found that his health code turned red on the morning of June 12 after he registered the day before to travel to Henan.

Liu had planned to travel to a protest planned for Monday in the Henan provincial capital Zhengzhou, where he had hoped to get his money back. The protest would have been the latest among numerous such demonstrations in Henan in recent months.

More than 200 depositors were similarly blocked when their health codes turned red, according to members of a WeChat group.

It could not be ascertained if the change in code was intended to block the protesters or for another reason, but three depositors told Reuters they knew people who had registered to travel to Henan, who were not connected to the frozen funds, whose codes did not turn red.

Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin Country Bank and Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank froze deposits on April 18, with all three telling customers they were upgrading internal systems. read more

Liu, who declined to give his full name for fear of government repercussions, said his child may not be able to go to school if his code does not soon revert to green.

"I can't do anything, I can't go anywhere. You're treated as though you're a criminal. It infringes on my human rights," said Liu.

Wang Qiong, who lives in the central city of Wuhan, found her health code had turned red after she registered to travel to Henan on June 11.

"The police had my identity details from the last time I went to protest in April," said Wang, who said she has lost access to 2.3 million yuan ($341,550).

Other depositors told Reuters they were able to arrive in Zhengzhou by train and car but their codes turned red as soon as they scanned city health codes.

"It's clearly abuse of power," read another comment.

One bank customer suddenly received a red code when they arrived in the city, despite having a negative PCR virus test result, state media reported.

Another got it without even leaving their home, while some had their red codes turn green when they left Zhengzhou, reported Global Times, a state-run tabloid.

"This kind of behaviour is not only against social morality, but also suspected of breaking the law," read a commentary published by the outlet.

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Health authorities in Zhengzhou told AFP they were "currently investigating" the situation but provided no further details.

Global Times cited Henan authorities as saying a database glitch may be the cause.

This is not the first time China's Covid pass system has come under fire. Rights advocates say it is being used to stifle protests and suppress individual rights.

In recent months, some dissidents have claimed that their health codes turned red when they attempted to travel to major cities to attend trials or to petition authorities.

Co je Majoritní akcionář
Majoritní akcionář je: Investor disponující nadpoloviční většinou akcií společnosti, případně takovým množstvím akcií, které mu umožní podnik ovládat (při velkém počtu drobných akcionářů je to možné i smenším podílem než 50 procent).

They go on to propose that, "the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups",[35] where they suggest, among other tactics, "Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action."

Thus the theory must have been a straw man initially planted by the government, in order to discredit other conspiracy theories and theorists by association.

Seeding the narrative
Quickly providing people with something to believe in is an important part of controlling the narrative, to prevent people from exercising their curiosity and potentially reaching unwanted conclusions as a result.

Within 10 minutes of the second twin tower being hit in the World Trade Center ... CNN said Osama bin Laden had done it. That was a planned piece of disinformation by the real perpetrators. It created an instant mindset and put public opinion into a trance, which prevented even intelligent people from thinking for themselves. - Hamid Gul interview (September 26 2001)[1]


Controlled opposition
The use of controlled opposition, such as official opposition narrative allows for an easy way to frame the debate. As long as discussion centres on two alternatives, both of which have been pre-selected (like in the case of party politics) allows for confidence that its conclusion will not stray into unwanted areas.

Quick response
When an alternative narrative emerges, the speed of the response id often more important than its quality. For example, on 3 June 2020 the Telegraph broke the news that Richard Dearlove believed that COVID-19's origins were artificial, i.e. that the virus was the result of genetic modification.[2] On 9 June the Guardian carried a story by Peter Daszak entitled Ignore the conspiracy theories: Scientists know Covid-19 wasn't created in a lab, which initially made no mention of Daszak's long term working relationship with Zhengli Shi and the Wuhan Institute of Virology BSL-4 lab.[3]