China: Protests turn violent after student dies

CNN
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Violent protests have erupted in China after the teenager’s death prompted accusations of a cover-up by authorities, video from the northwestern Shaanxi region showed.

Footage confirmed by CNN shows dozens of protesters confronting a wall of police outside the Pucheng Vocational School, some throwing batons and other objects at police.

One of the protesters was seen throwing a fire extinguisher at the door, breaking the glass. In response, the police behave aggressively with the demonstrators, beating some and throwing others to the ground.

The impetus for the protests was the death of a teenage student named Dang, who studied in the third year of the school. Local authorities in Pucheng maintained that Dang’s death on January 2 was an accident and not a crime, but accusations of a cover-up spread on social media.

Chinese authorities have been particularly wary of public protests in the country since large-scale White Paper demonstrations in late 2022 against Beijing’s tough policies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement released by state media last weekend, local authorities alleged that Dang “got into a verbal and physical altercation” with a first-year student surnamed Guo for “disturbing his rest” in his dormitory. A school official helped resolve the dispute that night.

Around 3 a.m., another student from the Danga dormitory went to the restroom, where he found a wooden stool under the balcony window, according to the statement.

“The sliding window was open, the metal mesh was removed. Dang has already fallen from the window to the ground,” the message reads.

Human Rights in China, a US-based activist group, reported “suspicious circumstances” leading to Dang’s death, including witness reports of “signs of a fight in Dang’s dormitory” and speculation that he was “pushed off the roof”.

The group said Dang’s family rejected the official explanation for his death. The family also claimed that photos from his mobile phone had been deleted, Reuters reported. The family’s skepticism grew significantly on social media.

It is unclear whether the protests, which began on Monday, continued throughout the week.