As protests against the nationwide Covid lockdown picked up steam across China, authorities on Monday appeared to be blaming "hostile foreign forces" for the wave of demonstrations. University students, who have been actively participating in the protests across the country, were ordered to leave campus and go back to their hometowns.
But now, videos have emerged of another instance of the students' rare defiance of the Chinese authorities as they question which "foreign forces" are responsible for the protests when the government has cut off almost all access to international communication via the internet.
One of the viral videos shows students asking the government on camera, "Which 'foreign forces' are you talking about? Are they Marx and Engels? Is it Stalin? Lenin? Was it 'foreign forces' that started the fire in Xinjiang? We can't even access foreign internet, how are 'foreign forces' meant to be communicating with us?"
Meanwhile, dozens gathered in central Hong Kong and at a major university campus on Monday for rare protests against China's strict Covid-19 restrictions and to mourn the victims of a deadly fire in the mainland's northwest.
Read more: China: Why Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy faces resistance
The small-scale protests were a show of solidarity with demonstrations across China where frustration has peaked over the country's harsh zero-Covid policy.
Students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong chanted slogans in both Cantonese –- Hong Kong's local language -– and Mandarin.
"Don't look away. Don't forget. We are not foreign forces. We are Chinese youth," they shouted.
(With inputs from AFP)
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