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First Post
05-08-2025
- Politics
- First Post
What is the bullying case in China that has led to rare protests?
Protests have erupted in Jiangyou in China's southwest after a video of a schoolgirl being bullied by her classmates went viral. This comes in the backdrop of bullying in China being a subject of fierce public debate. But what happened? How have authorities responded? read more China has vowed to crack down on school bullying. Protest are a rare thing in China. And for good reason. Everyone knows about Tiananmen square in 1989, where the state ruthlessly stamped out political opposition. But that hasn't stopped protests from erupting in Jiangyou in the country's southwest after a video of a schoolgirl being bullied by her classmates went viral. This comes in the backdrop of bullying in China being a subject of public debate. In 2024, a high-profile sparked discussion about the punishment being meted out to juvenile offenders. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But what happened? What do we know? How have the authorities responded? Let's take a closer look What happened? Videos on Chinese social media showed a young girl named Lai being pummelled with kicks and slaps in China's Sichuan province. The culprits? Three other teenagers. The video shows Lai, the victim, being forced to kneel in front of her assailants. The incident, which occurred in July, was filmed by passers-by. Videos purportedly show Lai being hit with a stick. Lai warned her assailants she would call the police, only to be dismissed by her attackers. One of the girls said she they were not afraid, while another claimed she had been to the police station over 10 times. She added that she had been let off in under 20 minutes. Lai was left with multiple bruises on Lai's scalp and knees, according to the police. The three suspects, all female, are 13, 14 and 15. There are reports that the girl, Lai, had been bullied incessantly. Her mother, who is reportedly deaf, had been pleading with authorities to act. Things reportedly got bloody after the police used batons and cattle prods to disperse the crowd. Image courtesy: Human Rights in China/X Police on August 4 said two of the attackers were being sent to a correctional The onlookers and a third girl who participated in the abuse were 'criticised and educated', the police added. They said the teens' guardians had been 'ordered to exercise strict discipline'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But not everyone is satisfied. Those online have demanded more punishment for the teenagers who attacked Lai, particularly given the reports that the victim had been bullied for a while. 'The sentence is too light… that is why they were so arrogant,' one top-liked Weibo comment under the police statement read. Then, on Monday, over 1,000 protesters took to the streets in Jiangyou. Protests were held outside local government offices. The demonstrators gathered till well after midnight. How have authorities reacted? By cracking down on protesters. Things reportedly got bloody after the police used batons and cattle prods to disperse the crowd. Video footage taken outside the city hall showed at least two people forcibly pulled aside by a group of blue-shirted and plain-clothes police officers; a woman in a black dress was also dragged away by her limbs. 'They're sweeping away citizens everywhere,' a person can be heard saying on the video, as the woman is dragged away. More footage taken after dark showed the police wearing black Swat uniforms subduing at least three people at an intersection with hundreds of bystanders. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Firstpost has not independently verified the authenticity of the videos. On August 5, Jiangyou was the second top-trending topic on Weibo – China's version of X –before it and related hashtags were censored. Police also denied that the assailants were children of a lawyer and police inspector. They said two of the parents are unemployed, while two others are working outside the province. One is a local salesperson and another is a delivery driver, police added. On August 5, local authorities said on WeChat that the police had punished two people for fabricating information about the school bullying case, warning the public against spreading rumours. They said the posts have 'seriously disrupted public order and caused bad social impact'. A Shanghai-based lawyer wrote on Weibo, 'The penalty for causing minor injuries is too mild, while the physical and mental trauma suffered by victims is overlooked by the law, which leads to a significant imbalance in the protection of their rights". STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This comes after a number of high-profile cases. In January, the death of the teen caused violent protests in northwest China. The protests saw demonstrators target police in Shaanxi province's Pucheng. Authorities claimed the teen died in an accident, but social media was rife with rumours of a cover up. In December, a court sentenced a teenage boy to life in prison and gave another a long prison term for murdering a classmate. The suspects, all aged under 14 at the time of the murder, were accused of bullying a 13-year-old classmate over a long period before killing him in an abandoned greenhouse and burying his body. Another boy was given 12 years in prison, while a third whom the court found did not harm the victim was sentenced to correctional education. With inputs from agencies
News18
05-08-2025
- News18
China Sees Rare Midnight Protest Over Bullying Case; Cops Use Batons To Disperse Over Thousand
Last Updated: A rare midnight protest broke out after a student bullying video went viral in China. Chinese citizens in the city of Jiangyou protested outside local offices against measures taken against three girls who bullied one of their schoolmates. The incident came to fore after the video of the 14-year-old girl being slapped, kicked and forced to kneel by three other minors went viral in Jiangyou city in Sichuan province last week, according to a report by broadcaster BBC. The broadcaster said that over 1,000 people took to the streets on Monday and the protest continued until midnight following which 'things got bloody" after local police used batons and electric prods to control the crowd. Police said that the three suspects, aged 13, 14 and 15, were all female and that they sent two of them to 'specialised schools for corrective education". People offline as well as online felt the punishment was too light, as news of the incident spread on China's strictly censored social media and internet. 四川江油霸凌事件引发大规模公众抗议。8月3日，一段多名年轻女子在一所废弃建筑内围殴羞辱一名女子的视频在网上传播，视频中，施暴者对女孩拳打脚踢、强行脱衣，将整个过程拍摄并上传至网络。受害人身体受伤，精神受到严重打击。据家属在网络曝光反映，被霸凌女孩的父母为聋哑人，在事件发生后曾多次前… — 中国人权-Human Rights in China (@hrichina) August 5, 2025 The people claimed the punishment did not meet the severity of the act because the bullying was going on for some time and that the deaf mother of the student had pleaded to authorities seeking justice for her daughter. Mass protests erupted in Jiangyou, Sichuan, after a brutal school bullying case that reportedly implicated local police in a August 3, a video surfaced online showing several young women beating and humiliating another girl inside an abandoned building. In the… — 中国人权-Human Rights in China (@hrichina) August 5, 2025 'People just wanted justice. People were upset about the lack of punishment," a witness told the broadcaster, adding that the police have told locals to not talk about the issue much. The broadcaster in the report claimed that it had accessed videos where cops were seen dragging protesters along the street and hitting them with batons and that there were water bottles pelted at the cops. Similar videos were shared by ShanghaiPanda and 中国人权-Human Rights in China. News18 could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos. Police issued a statement to quell rumours that the assailants were the daughters of a lawyer and a police inspector. 'Two of the parents are unemployed, two are working outside the province, one is a local salesperson, and one is a local delivery driver," the statement said. The rumours arose after the bullying videos, shot by the perpetrators, showed one of them saying they were not afraid. Another bully said she has been to the police station close to a dozen times and was set free in less than 20 minutes. After this, many opined, online and offline that not enough is being done to punish bullying in China. Bullying is among the highly sensitive social topics in China in recent years and student deaths over bullying have previously triggered protests. Protests happen in China and are not uncommon, but they are dealt with quietly and censored on state-run media and the internet. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : china protests Xi Jinping view comments Location : Beijing, China First Published: August 05, 2025, 16:40 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
