Chinese Students’ Rallies for Democracy Spread to Peking
Student demands for democracy spread to Peking on Tuesday with more than 4,000 students marching or rallying in support of fellow students in Shanghai and other cities.
A crowd went from campus to campus in northwestern Peking Tuesday night, at one point crossing a line of about 100 police.
In Shanghai, about 2,000 students demonstrated for a fifth day Tuesday, down from the tens of thousands drawn to the streets over the weekend.
In Nanjing, 150 miles northwest of Shanghai, about 2,000 students were reported to have marched.
At Peking University, posters ridiculed a commentary in the People’s Daily, the nation’s leading newspaper, calling on people to “cherish stability” and asked, “Why are we so afraid to do what Shanghai students are doing?”
Sing Internationale
Sources at Qinghua University in the capital said about 4,000 students gathered in the evening and sang the Internationale, a socialist hymn, and the national anthem. Speakers complained that the Communist Youth League and student union do not represent student interests.
About 1,000 then marched to nearby Peking University, a traditional hotbed of student unrest, and called on students to join them. Some marchers went on to People’s University.
About 1,000 students from the three campuses marched down a street chanting “Long Live Democracy” and “We Demand Freedom.” Some students said they were inspired by the “people’s power” movement that ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the Philippines and the show of strength by opposition parties in recent Taiwanese elections.
Police urged the students to go home to sleep, and the crowd eventually disbanded without incident.
Want Reforms Speeded
Students have protested in at least half a dozen cities this month, demanding that the government speed up political reforms and allow students to run for local legislative bodies. They have also demanded better living conditions and fewer controls on the state-run press.
In Shanghai, about 2,000 students marched from Tongji University toward City Hall after officials refused to meet with student leaders. Police turned the marchers back.
Authorities had warned after tens of thousands of Shanghai students marched over the weekend that further public disruptions would not be tolerated.
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