Student’s deadly fall leads to clashes with police

Compiled by Zakiah Koya and C.Aruno

THE death of a junior high school student in Henan, China, has led to a massive protest in the county of Ningling.

It also led to altercations with the police, Sin Chew Daily reported.

On Dec 24, a student, whose surname was Yang, fell to his death at the Yuhua Garden High School.

Family members noticed bruises all over his body and believed that he was a victim of long- term bullying and abuse at the school.

However, local police ruled out foul play and dismissed claims that Yang was bullied at school.

The news infuriated local residents who organised a vigil at the school on Dec 27 for Yang.

The next day, more than 10,000 people gathered outside the school to protest against the police’s findings.

Several protesters began vandalising cars outside the school, which led to their arrest.

This further inflamed other protesters who surrounded police cars and demanded for their release.

Videos of the incident showed protesters chasing away police officers guarding the school, before swarming the school office and beating up its principal.

In response, police have set up a blockade at the town’s entrances, preventing anyone from leaving and entering the area.

Videos taken on Dec 29 showed heightened security in the county, with many police officers patrolling the area.

Ningling county publicity head Quan Shaonan later told the press that there was no evidence that Yang had been bullied according to the forensic report.

“There were no teachers or students bullying him. The parents are very emotional right now.

“After the incident happened, we have our staff consoling and giving advice to Yang’s parents,” he said.

> The daily also reported that a video of an elderly man in China’s Gansu province being beaten with a tree branch and humiliated went viral online.

The 53-second footage, which was believed to have been taken at Dingxi city on Dec 29, showed a young man wearing track pants and a tank top repeatedly hitting an old man on the ground with a tree branch.

The younger man is also shown removing his pants and sitting down on the elderly man’s face in what appears to be an attempt to humiliate him.

In the video, several bystanders watch the incident without stepping in to help.

The Weiyuan county police later told reporters that the old man had been sent to hospital for treatment.

They have arrested a suspect to help with the investigation.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.