1,000 Chinese Join Democracy Rally After Student’s Death

Protests over the recent killing of a Beijing University student escalated Tuesday into the most dramatic pro-democracy campus rally in China since a crackdown on such demonstrations early last year.

About 1,000 students on the campus late Tuesday and early today listened as speakers called for free speech and free press, for better living conditions for intellectuals and greater democracy.

They indicated that they would carry their demands to the street later today with a march from the suburban campus to Tian An Men Square in downtown Beijing.

The Beijing city government, in a warning broadcast over a loudspeaker, noted that it already has in custody a number of men suspected of killing the student in an off-campus brawl.

“A small number of people are trying to turn this incident into a political question,” the government said. “. . . Their actions are against the interests of the people of the whole country and of the students of Beijing University. . . . All demonstrations without permission are illegal.”

Students Divided

Student opinion was sharply divided over the advisability of a street demonstration and what its effects might be.

“We should mobilize the masses,” one student declared.

Another shouted: “The workers, peasants and soldiers aren’t a revolutionary force anymore. It should be the intellectuals.”

And a third: “The strength of students should not be overestimated. Workers are concerned about wages and inflation. Speaking of democracy and freedom won’t draw their support. A demonstration won’t win the backing of the public. We must simply push for freedom of speech.”

More than 1,000 students marched on Tian An Men Square one night last week, but their protest was focused on demands directly connected with the slaying, including the apprehension of those responsible for it and tighter security around the campus.

On Tuesday night, the students gathered in front of a row of about 100 posters, many of them honoring the slain student, Chai Qingfeng, but others criticizing the government.