CHINESE POLICE CRUSH CAMPUS PROTESTS OVER MERGER PLAN

BEIJING: Chinese police said they suppressed rare campus protests on Tuesday, after thousands of angry students held a college principal hostage over fears their degrees were set to be downgraded.

Undergraduates at Nanjing Normal University’s Zhongbei College, in eastern Jiangsu province, were enraged by a plan to merge the school with a vocational college, fearing it would devalue their qualifications as they prepare for China’s intensely competitive job market. They detained the principal on campus for over 30 hours from Sunday onwards, Danyang city police said.

Officers “were surrounded by some students who shouted verbal abuse and blocked law enforcement,” the police added.