China’s elite Tsinghua University meets students after weekend protest against Covid restrictions
- After call for rule of law and freedom of expression, meeting canvasses issues around strict measures and Covid-related psychological stress
- But witness says students not satisfied by lack of clear-cut responses following long-term dissatisfaction over pandemic restrictions
To placate the students, the university authorities held a meeting, both in-person and virtually, with students on Monday afternoon to discuss Covid-related measures, according to a Tsinghua student who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Guo Yong, the university’s deputy party secretary, had verbally promised to not hold any protesters responsible, and so far the unnamed student has not heard of anyone getting into trouble.
03:59
Protests flare across China over zero-Covid, lockdowns after deadly Urumqi fire
“The school can only solve this [Covid-related] issue for us,” she said. “And nobody raised anything bigger [than Covid-19 measures].”
The meeting was held a day after a rare protest was staged on the campus of the university, alma mater of many political elites in the country, including President Xi Jinping.
In a video confirmed by a witness, a few hundred Tsinghua students gathered and chanted “democracy, the rule of law and freedom of expression”.