Security remained tight at a university in central China yesterday after students rioted over graduation diplomas and as authorities maintained silence on the ultra-sensitive unrest.
The main gate to the Shengda Economics, Trade and Management College was sealed, with security guards checking identification papers of those going in and out amid a tight police presence.
Government and school authorities refused to comment on the rioting that began on Thursday last week, reflecting the sensitivities over student unrest which has a history of spilling over into the general population.
The 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, that began on a few college campuses in Beijing and soon spread nationwide in six weeks of demonstrations, ended only after troops gunned downed hundreds if not thousands of unarmed protesters in the streets of the capital.
Students at Shengda college, part of Zhengzhou University in the capital of Henan Province, had previously reported details to the press of riots which involved between 5,000 and 10,000 students and lasted into the weekend.
But yesterday students were extremely wary, with many refusing to speak to foreign journalists.
One student, when contacted by phone, said school authorities had not responded to their demands and the situation was becoming increasingly pessimistic.
"So far we have not got a response from the authorities," the student said. "I'm pretty pessimistic about this. From the present situation I think we won't see the results we want."
Photos of the riot posted on the Internet showed smashed windows at a non-campus bank branch, dormitories and cars, while chairs had been torched and bicycles strewn across the grounds.
Students were protesting because they had been misled into believing they would not be receiving diplomas from Zhengzhou University but instead from the less-prestigious Shengda college.
The local press has not covered the unrest in their papers, while Internet news and chatroom searches on the "Shengda" college failed to generate any hits, further reflecting the official sensitivities over the unrest.
On Monday and Tuesday, students began a peaceful boycott of classes and examinations while several thousand students quietly demonstrated outside the college's administration building, students said.
But by yesterday, most had returned to classes while only a few continued the boycott, teachers and students said when contacted by phone.
Late on Tuesday night a dozen police vans and another dozen police cars were posted outside the campus, while a few uniformed policemen guarded the college's main gate.
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