In a rare protest in China, a group of people clashed with police in the northwestern Shaanxi province outside a vocational school where a student died earlier in the month.
Reuters verified from several videos on social media platform X that the clash took place at the new campus of Pucheng County Vocational Education Center.
The date of the incident could not be ascertained from the videos.
Two of the videos showed dozens of police officers in riot gear retreating from an angry crowd that was flinging rods and other objects at them.
In another clip, a few police officers rushed to grab a woman while another policeman repeatedly hit a man with his baton on being approached.
The public security bureau in Weinan, the city governing Pucheng county, did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the details in the videos.
Death Of A Student
In a statement on January 5, Pucheng authorities said that a student surnamed Dang died at the campus of Pucheng County Vocational Education Center after falling from a building.
A joint investigation team put together for the case ruled out any crime, and informed the student’s family of their conclusion.
Dang was found dead by another student at 3 a.m. on January 2, according to the investigation team’s statement.
Dang was in an altercation with another student the previous night, the statement said.
Public security authorities had conducted on-site investigations, reviewed surveillance footage, conducted interviews, and performed an external examination on the body, the investigation team said.
Cause Of The Protest
New-York based group Human Rights In China said the protest was due to the death of the 17-year-old student, according to its post on X on January 7.
It said the family of the deceased student was prohibited from checking their child’s corpse for any traumatic injuries.
When his family members demanded that they wanted to see security footage, they were told that the school’s surveillance system was damaged.
The family claimed photographs from the student’s mobile phone had also been deleted.
Public Speculation
“These actions triggered public speculation that the school was trying to cover up the truth,” the group said.
Weinan’s public security bureau did not immediately respond to a request to confirm whether the protest was related to the details mentioned by Human Rights In China.
Reuters could not reach either the Weinan police or the vocational school for comment.
(With inputs from Reuters)
