The death of a teenager sparked violent protests in a city in northwestern China, the BBC confirmed via verified footage.
In videos shared on social media, protesters can be seen throwing objects at police and officers beating some protesters in Pucheng, Shaanxi province.
Authorities said the teenager died Jan. 2 in an accident at his school dormitory. But after the accusations about his death began to spread on social networks that there was a cover-up.
Protests broke out soon after and lasted for several days, before apparently being quelled earlier this week. The BBC has seen no further evidence of protests in Pucheng since.
Public demonstrations are not uncommon in China, but authorities have been particularly sensitive to them since protests against the 2022 White Paper against Covid policies, which have drawn rare criticism from the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping.
State media has been silent on the protests in Pucheng. Any clips or mentions of the protests have largely been censored from Chinese social media, as is usually the case with incidents deemed sensitive by the authorities.
But several videos were leaked from China and posted on X.
The BBC has confirmed that the videos were taken at a vocational training center in Pucheng and has not found earlier versions online before protests erupted over the past few days.
When contacted by the BBC, a representative of the Pucheng government’s publicity department denied that there had been any protests. There was no response when we called the official handling media inquiries.
In a statement released earlier this week, local authorities said the teenager, surnamed Dang, was a third-year student at the Pucheng Education Center.
Before his death, Dang was woken up at night by other students talking in his dorm, their statement said. He got into an argument and altercation with the boy, which was resolved by a school official.
Later that night, his body was found by another student at the foot of the dormitory block.
The statement described it as an “accident in which a student fell from a height at school.” It is added that the police conducted an investigation and an autopsy, and “currently exclude this as a criminal case”.
However, claims have been circulating on the internet for days that there is more to the story and that the school and the authorities are hiding the truth. One report claimed, without evidence, that Dang killed himself after being bullied by a boy with whom he had previously fought.
Unverified claims by his family have been circulating, stating that the injuries on Dang’s body did not match the authorities’ version of events and that they were not allowed to examine his body for a long time.
The accusations appear to have angered many in Pucheng, sparking protests that drew at least hundreds of people.
Abuse has become a highly sensitive topic in China in recent years, and past cases of student deaths have sparked protests. Last month, a Chinese court handed down long prison terms two teenagers who killed a classmate.
There are also videos posted on X on Monday, which the BBC confirmed were taken at the Pucheng Vocational Training Centre, showing people mourning the teenager’s death. At the entrance to the school, they laid flowers and gifts, and performed a traditional mourning ceremony by throwing pieces of paper from the roof of the school building.
Other videos circulating online show protesters, many of them young, storming the building and clashing with police shouting “give us the truth”.
One verified video shows a school official confronted by shouting protesters pushing him. Others show destroyed offices in the complex and protesters tearing down barricades at the entrance to the school.
Another shows protesters throwing objects such as traffic cones at retreating groups of police; and police officers who attacked and detained people while beating them with batons. Some protesters are seen with bloody heads and faces.
There is little information on what happened next, but reports on social media suggest a much larger police presence in Pucheng in recent days, with no further reports of demonstrations.
Authorities also urged the public not to “create rumours, believe rumours, or spread rumours”.
