2014-11-05
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Students protest high food prices and poor food quality at Guangdong Provincial Economics and Trade Technical College in southeast China’s Guangdong province, Nov. 5, 2014.
(Photo courtesy of an activist.)
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are holding an unknown number of people after students at a technical college rioted following a standoff with college management over poor food quality in the canteen.
More than 3,000 students rampaged through buildings at the Guangdong Provincial Economics and Trade Technical College in response to what they said was poor management on the part of college leadership and unfair restrictions on their eating habits.
They smashed windows in the controversial on-campus store and the canteen as well computer equipment in college offices, according to online and eyewitness accounts.
“I was shouting ‘Protest! Protest!’ because of the problems with the canteen,” a student who took part told RFA on Wednesday.
“We are only allowed off campus on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and they won’t allow students to send for take-outs,” the student said.
“There was a huge incident last night with people smashing stuff, and we’re not allowed to leave campus now either,” he said.
Devastating scenes
Online photos showed scenes of devastation with broken furniture and glass scattered around the college canteen and food store.
Other photos showed large groups of students who gathered in dormitory buildings in protest with rows of armed police in full riot gear also at the scene.
A second student told RFA via social media that the protests had started after some students began handing out fliers calling for a boycott of class and the canteen starting on Wednesday.
The students became angry after college authorities tried to detain those who had handed out the leaflets, he said.
“Large numbers of students came out onto the balconies of their dorms, shouting in protest,” the student said. “Some of them were throwing trash and bottles.”
“Then some people started chucking stuff to smash the windows in the canteen opposite, and of the machinery room,” he said. “Someone even threw a water cooler.”
