Protesters in China besiege an indebted property developer

PROTESTS BY ANGRY investors are common in China. Average folk who have been deceived by online lenders or other scam artists have few outlets for redress. They occupy office lobbies until a senior executive appears to calm their nerves. It is rare, however, for demonstrators to target well-known companies, and rarer still for connected protests to crop up all across the country. Events such as these have made Evergrande, a massive property developer on the brink of default, something of a spectacle in recent days.

The company has debts of around $300bn, the most of any property group in the world. On September 13th its headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen (pictured) were besieged by investors who were demanding that their money be returned. Similar scenes were witnessed at Evergrande offices in several other cities. In one video circulating online a woman yells into a loudspeaker, demanding answers from Evergrande staff. In another, an executive attempts to field questions in a cramped hallway, only to be shouted down by protesters.

Since 2020 the Chinese government has sought to limit property developers’ borrowing. Rule changes that are part of a wider campaign against indebtedness have nudged several real-estate groups into default, or to the cusp of it. That is where Evergrande, once thought too big to fail...