The most shocking behavior perpetrated by Big Whites caught on video includes the beating to death of a corgi by volunteers in Shanghai’s Pudong area after the dog’s owners were taken to quarantine and forced to hand the dog to the neighborhood committee. Chinese authorities say that animals can be vectors for the spread of coronavirus.

In another widely circulated WeChat post that has since been deleted, a woman described how Big Whites worked with police and a locksmith to break into her 94-year-old grandmother’s apartment in the middle of the night to bring her to quarantine. After the woman refused to leave, they dragged her on the ground, until her son agreed to leave with them. The local neighborhood office defended the action, saying they were worried when no one answered the door.

“Those Big Whites don’t have any sense of humanity,” said Samuel Yu, a 40-year-old marketing executive in Shanghai who watched the videos. “But those in my compound have worked very hard since lockdown — I believe they have no choice sometimes.”

One Big White in Shanghai, who asked not to be identified due to fears of recriminations, said he signed up online for the job and was chosen by street-level authorities. Describing the work as “very stressful,” he said he needed to stand outside in an ill-fitting hazmat suit for as long as six hours at a time, meaning that he can’t really drink water or go to the toilet. The volunteer said he was told not to sit unless it seemed like he was going to collapse.