Volunteers deliver vegetables to residents of Huajin community in Wuchang District of Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)

A woman who instigated a large gathering in March to protest against overpriced groceries in a community in Central China's Hubei Province has been arrested for endangering COVID-19 epidemic control during lockdowns, authorities reported late Saturday.

The person, surnamed Zeng, assembled nearly 100 people including friends, relatives and other members of the public in the Haishan neighborhood in Yingcheng, a city in Hubei on March 12. 

According to previous government reports, on March 12 at 7:30 pm, about 100 people gathered in the basketball court of the neighborhood, but were persuaded to disperse at 8 pm. 

Zeng, a 45-year-old female, whose nickname is Brother Zeng, organized the gathering citing reasons such as "poor neighborhood management during the neighborhood lockdown" and "overpriced daily necessities." 

They demanded the Haishan property management office be dismissed and the resident committee be disbanded. 

Her actions have endangered the epidemic prevention and control work, the Yingcheng government said in a statement released late Saturday.

The Haishan neighborhood has a greater risk of COVID-19 infection, reporting a total of eight confirmed cases, and 41 close contacts with confirmed patients. The neighborhood has 3,689 households with a total of 8,012 residents.

During the epidemic prevention and control period, the Haishan Neighborhood was under fully closed management, and the neighborhood offered a unified purchasing and distribution service for residents' daily living supplies. The service was run by the property management office and no others were allowed to sell daily supplies to residents.

Some residents in the neighborhood told media that some vegetables and fruits purchased by the property management office were rotten and over-priced. 

In the wake of the incident, the Yingcheng government further improved its work in distributing daily necessities for residents and stabilized prices and quality. The local government has also established a specialized team in the neighborhood to help reelect the resident committee and strengthen neighborhood management. 

The government announcement also said Zeng's real intention was to gain herself a post in the resident committee and be exempt from property management fees.

According to the statement, Zeng has a record of many such incidents. 

On June 1, 2016, Zeng assembled a large number of people for no justified reason, pulling out banners, shouting slogans, intimidating others and breaking into a conference site of the "two sessions." 

From 2017, Zeng refused to pay her property management fees. Since 2019, Zeng has organized people on seven occasions to thwart construction projects and disturb order in public venues. 

Zeng was detained by police on April 9 and arrested on April 17 with the approval of the Yingcheng People's Procuratorate. 

The case is being handled according to laws, the Yingcheng government said.