onsdag 9. juni 2021

China students hold principal hostage in rare protest

Protesting students held a school principal hostage over fears their degrees would be devalued, Chinese police said on Tuesday. The protests were over a plan to merge a Nanjing college in Jiangsu province with a vocational institute - which are seen as less prestigious. Some of the students were reportedly injured as police allegedly used batons and pepper spray on them.

Danyang city police said in a statement on Tuesday that undergraduates at Nanjing Normal University's Zhongbei College in Jiangsu province had "gathered" from Sunday and detained the 55-year-old principal on campus for more than 30 hours. Students "shouted verbal abuse and blocked law enforcement", and refused to let him leave even after authorities announced a suspension of the merger plans, the statement added. protests are rare in China where mass movements are controlled.