Jiangxi student protests continue: hundreds of police block another campus
The authorities sent anti-riot police to a campus in Ganjiang to stop a student rally that could have been attended by about 60,000 students. Telephone and internet lines were cut by the police who forced the students to stay indoors.
Ganjiang (AsiaNews/Agencies) For the second time in less than a week, Chinese authorities dispatched hundreds of anti-riot squad police to a private university in the southern province of Jiangxi to put a stop to a mass rally by students against the government.
Police forced university students not to leave the campus and cut telephone and internet lines of the Technology Institute of Ganjiang.
The police were sent to prevent a mass protest by Ganjiang students that could have been attended by about 60,000 students from 10 private colleges in the province. The students are protesting about a new education law which, despite the promises of state officials, does not equate academic qualifications from private institutes with those obtained at public universities.
This is the second such incident within a week. The first clashes took place on 21 October in Nanchang, and they dragged out for four straight days, ending with 20 injured, five arrests and damaged vehicles and buildings.
Soon after the protests began, paramilitary police were deployed with an order to "contain" the protests. Many protesters are said to belong to ethnic minorities, including some 2,000 Uighurs.
A student of Ganjiang Institute said Luo Gan Communist leader of the national section for public law and order visited Nanchang to meet officials from the Department of Education to discuss how to resolve the diploma dispute.
News of the clashes has reached the highest echelons of the government: according to a source in Beijing that remains anonymous for security reasons, China's President Hu Jintao was "alarmed" by the student revolt that shook Jiangxi last week "to the extent that yesterday he called the Public Security Minister for an emergency meeting".
Such protests are increasing in China. Entrance exams to government universities are highly competitive, so many students turn to private institutions which in theory are recognized by the state. In practice, the government has stopped recognizing qualifications granted by these institutions, thus rendering worthless students' efforts and money spent.
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22/11/2019 16:13
