Police called after University of Hong Kong students put posters up on campus commemorating Xinjiang fire victims
- Police receive call from HKU security staff members at around 6pm reporting they found two ‘suspicious’ people putting up posters near university’s railway station
- Ten people died in fire that broke out in Urumqi last Thursday, triggering rare protests in mainland China fuelled by suspicion Covid measures delayed firefighters
Hong Kong’s top university called police on Sunday after two students put up posters on campus that reportedly commemorated victims of a deadly fire in Xinjiang, in mainland China’s far western region.
The incident on campus was first revealed by Undergrad, the student-run online media site for the University of Hong Kong (HKU), which said two mainland students had their personal details recorded by police officers.
A picture accompanying the report showed two black-clad men being stopped by two officers, with a white bouquet on the ground next to them. An HKU spokesman confirmed management had called police.
“On [Sunday] evening, someone distributed and put up publicity materials on campus, but they refused to reveal whether they were HKU students. The security guards requested police assistance over public order concerns,” he said.
“Upon arrival, officers preliminary confirmed the … identity of the relevant persons and have subsequently left. The students then also left the scene on their own.”
Ten people died in the fire that broke out in Urumqi last Thursday. Video that circulated online on the mainland before being censored purported to show fire engines kept at a distance from the residential block by gates and other obstructions placed around the building due to Covid-19 lockdown measures. The possibility that timely help was delayed because of anti-pandemic measures sparked protests in a number of mainland cities, including Shanghai.
