"Beijing University Student Protests Strict COVID-19 Prevention Measures"

A restaurant in locked-down Shanghai, China
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] As China's COVID-19 prevention measures have intensified, hundreds of students at Peking University held a protest.

According to foreign media including AFP on the 16th (local time), about 300 Peking University students protested in front of a dormitory building on the Wanyu Campus of the university the previous day. The protest occurred as the government attempted to implement new control measures such as banning food deliveries.

It has been reported that the students are facing difficulties such as being quarantined in certain areas of the campus and undergoing daily testing. Some students reportedly expressed their dissatisfaction by tearing down quarantine fences.

As the protest escalated with students chanting slogans and jeering at a faculty member, Chen Baojian, Vice President of Peking University, intervened and urged the students to return to their dormitories. After the protesters dispersed, the university reportedly allowed students to leave the campus and permitted food deliveries.

Peking University is a symbolic location where the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests took place.