Hundreds clash with police amid protests over school campus switch in China

Dozens of protesters were detained and police officers wounded after parents took to the streets in southern China on the weekend to oppose government plans to send their children to a private boarding school.

City police said 46 people were taken into custody and 30 officers wounded in clashes involving hundreds of people outside the Leiyang public security bureau headquarters in Hunan province late on Saturday night.

The clashes showed how quickly public distrust could turn into social unrest, and highlighted the need for local government officials to be more consultative in implementing change, observers said.

The incident was triggered by a provincial order to cut class sizes at schools in the city’s stretched education system to a maximum of 66 pupils by relocating all fifth and sixth graders to a private campus.

The teachers would be transferred with the pupils and no extra fees would be charged but the children would have to live in dormitories during the week.

The change would affect nearly 10,000 pupils who are due to start the new school year on Monday.