["Dissatisfied With School Management, Around 1,000 College Students in Lanzhou, Gansu, Demonstrated on the Streets and Tried To Storm the Provincial Government Office"]

According to information obtained by this centre, around 1,000 students of Gansu Construction Vocational Technical College staged a demonstration on the morning of 29 October. They held banners and marched in the main streets of Lanzhou to express their dissatisfaction with the fees charged by the school. At one time, they tried to storm the provincial government office. Over 1,000 police officers, including armed and special police, appeared on the route of the demonstration to take precaution. This was the largest demonstration in Gansu since the 4 June incident in 1989. The gate guard of the Gansu Provincial Government building, the Security Department of the college, and the Yanjiaping Police Station in the area confirmed this demonstration when we contacted them.

This college is an institution of higher learning in the nationwide university entrance examination and enrolment system. The students are quite dissatisfied with the living conditions provided by the school. Not only are the prices at the mini supermarket in the school much higher than the prices at other supermarkets, the food prices charged by the school's cafeteria are also exorbitant. In addition, only few varieties of food are offered by the cafeteria, and the sanitary condition is very bad. Students have often found flies and cockroaches in the food. The drinking water supplied by the school is actually industrial water. The so-called boiling water has a temperature of 60 degrees. After eating the instant noodles prepared with such water, students often had stomachache. Besides, the school has no facilities for sports activities. The student lodged repeated complaints with the departments concerned at various levels but could not get a satisfactory response. Finally, their dissatisfaction turned into an action on 29 October. At 0800 that day, they held banners, walked out of the school gate, and marched from Qilihe District towards the provincial government building. While marching in the streets, they shouted slogans, attracting a large number of onlookers and paralysing the traffic. At 1200 noon, they arrived at the provincial government building. Some students tried to storm the office of the provincial government, but were prevented by the armed public security police, numbering several hundreds. More than 10 students were injured. At noon, responsible officials, including the secretary general of the provincial government, came out to talk with the students. At 1600 the authorities sent buses to the spot to transport the demonstrating students back to school. The gate guard of the provincial government building, the Security Department of this college, and the Yanjiaping Police Station in Qilihe District confirmed this incident when contacted by us. As we have learned, this student demonstration, the largest of its kind in Gansu since the 4 June incident, has been described by the authorities as an "organized" action. Now, some students' cell phones have failed to work. It is believed that the organizers of the demonstration are under the direct investigation by the authorities. Meanwhile, the authorities are closely guarding against the spread of the news about this large-scale demonstration.

5 November 2009

Source: Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Hong Kong, in Chinese 5 Nov 09