Customers whose funds have been frozen by a number of rural banks will soon start receiving money again, according to authorities in China’s Henan province.
One day after a rare protest in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, descended into violence, the statement was made.
Local regulators say payments will start to be made in installments on Friday.
According to estimates, a total of 39 billion yuan ($5.8 billion; £4.9 billion) in deposits have been frozen at the four banks that were the subject of the demonstrations.
The Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the Henan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Bureau detailed the plans to make payments to consumers through a local organization under the control of the People’s Bank of China in a statement on Monday.
Customers were instructed by the regulators to get in touch with the association starting at 9:00 local time (02:00 BST) on Friday. The announcement, nevertheless, has drawn criticism from some Chinese social media users.
In Zhengzhou, the city of Henan, on Sunday, hundreds of people participated in a protest against the frozen deposits before it descended into violence following a fight with an unidentified group of men.
The demonstrators said that the banks had stopped communicating with them since April, when they had allegedly frozen their deposits due to internal system updates.
According to local media sources, police were reportedly present at the protest and had ordered the demonstrators to disperse.
Videos shared on social media showed an unnamed group of people pushing demonstrators and throwing water bottles at them. They were dressed normally and looked like security officers.
In an interview with BBC Chinese, a protester who had traveled to Henan for the march described how they had been attacked.
In a statement released on Sunday, local police said that they had arrested “a number of people” who had something to do with the case and that their investigation into the banks was going well. This had nothing to do with the protests.
According to the authorities, it is thought that the suspects were in charge of several banks in the province via a parent company.
Deposits at Yuzhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng were all frozen in April.
Since then, thousands of clients have gone to Zhengzhou to try to get their money.
After a series of small demonstrations, hundreds of people flocked to the streets on May 23 for a major rally before police broke it up.
Following their trip to Zhengzhou, some bank clients claimed they had had problems with their COVID-19 tracing program, which is required in many Chinese cities for residents to enter buildings and stores, utilize public transportation, or exit the city.
