African community targeted in China virus crackdown

Beijing (AFP) - Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as the country steps up its fight against imported infections.

China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.

Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa". It has led to Africans becoming targets of suspicion, distrust and racism in China.

Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels.

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A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his apartment earlier this week. "Everywhere the police see us, they will come and pursue us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?" he said.

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Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels. "I've been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat... I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me," said Tony Mathias, an exchange student from Uganda who was forced from his apartment on Monday. "We're like beggars on the street," the 24-year-old said.

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Video of Chinese mob beating up African. W.S.