“We’re Sleeping Outside”, Africans Based in China’s Southern city of Guangzhou Cry Amid Coronavirus-Fueled Xenophobia

Hundreds of African residents, mainly students and businessmen, are being evicted from hotels and apartments in Guangzhou as they are being accused of having the novel coronavirus also known as COVID-19. The officials claim Africans are importing the virus back into the country.

Supchina, which reported the news on Wednesday, says “there have been just 16 confirmed cases of foreigners from African countries with COVID-19. But for the black community there, what’s more terrifying than the virus itself is the rising tide of discrimination driven by both coronavirus-fuelled xenophobia and deep-rooted prejudice against black people in China.”

The resident Africans say they are just being targeted under the guise of a testing campaign for the global pandemic. A Nigerian student, Tobenna Victor, was quoted by BBC Africa saying “they are accusing us of having the virus,”

BBC Africa reports that some residents say they have been evicted from their apartments while others have been put into forced quarantine without knowing the results of their tests.

“We paid rent to them and after collecting rent they chased us out of the house. Since last night we have been sleeping outside. They came to my house. They told me to wait after 24 hours for the result, [but] after 24 hours nobody contacted me,” a Congolese businessman, Lunde Okulunge Isidore, also claimed.

On Monday, a neighborhood in Yuexiu town of Sanheli, also known as “Little Africa” due to its sizable population of African migrants, was trending on Social Media after a since-deleted Weibo post claiming that Yaotai village, located in the neighborhood, would be completely locked down for 14 days. “Some specific groups of people will be targeted for testing during this period of time,” the post read.

Meanwhile, the information office of Guangzhou’s government said (in Chinese) in a press conference on Tuesday that since five Nigerian migrants tested positive for COVID-19 this week, the city had launched a “comprehensive investigation” of potential coronavirus transmission in the expatriate community.

“Put frankly there is increasing fear and worry in the region about the second wave of cases,” Maximus Ogbonna, president of the Nigerian community in China, told the China-based website Black Livity. “Because many associate this with foreigners, they are testing to make sure they are clear.”