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Hundreds of students from the prestigious Tsinghua University came out in protest against strict Covid-19 lockdown rules, on Sunday, Nov. 27.

The protest at Chinese President Xi Jinping's alma mater follows a similar overnight gathering at Peking University, AFP reported. 

"At 11:30 am, students started holding up signs at the entrance of the canteen, then more and more people joined. Now there are 200 to 300 people", a Tsinghua student shared.

The protesters gathered in a courtyard outside Tsinghua’s Zijingyuan canteen, with some raising sheets of paper in the air.

They also sang China's national anthem, and socialist anthem "The Internationale", and chanted slogans like "freedom will prevail", "no nucleic acid tests, we want food", and "no to lockdowns, we want freedom".

北京，11月27日清华大学。一名抗议的女学生说：“如果我们因为害怕被捕，所以就不敢发声，我觉得我们的人民都会对我们失望，我作为清华的学生，我会后悔一辈子”。不过，清华这次发声的同学，基本都是女生。可见，清华男生，就是一个个小镇做题家。与哈佛和MIT相比，北大和清华还有几百年差距 #清华大学 pic.twitter.com/K11gDJbJME

— FreeMilesGuo释放郭文贵 (@BrentHane) November 27, 2022

A female student said, "If we don't voice out just because we're afraid of getting arrested, I think our own people will be disappointed in us. As a Tsinghua student, I will regret it for the rest of my life (if I don't do this now)."

Multiple videos allegedly showing the protest were shared on Twitter.

Two female students were filmed holding up a piece of blank white paper by themselves separately, in protest against censorship. The blank pieces of paper were also supposedly held up in defiance against the university which forbids materials that have not received prior approval to be printed.

A sole protester, goes without saying, Tsinghua University, Beijing.

This is very very courageous in China. pic.twitter.com/cWsR8PX5em

— 金博士频道 GOLDENCHANNEL π (@christopherjing) November 27, 2022

记住这个清华女生！她以后有任何需要帮助，我们都应当伸出援手！因为她为中国人在发声！🥲 pic.twitter.com/mWyRtYSYWJ

— 李军 (@jacklee7281) November 27, 2022

A few more female students followed suit after.

#清华大学 #中共反人类防疫 终于在习近平“母校”（他是冒牌的）清华大学，出现了一女生当众举白纸站立，后来又出现了五名女生。清华大学保卫处二十大前曾出过公告：校内严禁未经审核打印一切，于是现在大家都很配合，乖乖地只举起白纸！抱歉清华，虽然是迟到，依然向你致敬！ https://t.co/PXenuD2Rj8

— Nini艾番妮🇺🇸🇭🇰ChinaNews海外华人新闻在线 (@USABelAir2021) November 27, 2022

In another video, students gathered at Tsinghua University could be heard chanting: “We need democracy, we need rule of law, we need freedom of expression!"

Breaking News： Tsinghua University has begun to shout slogans collectively against Chinese communist party tyranny : “We need democracy,we need rule of law, we need freedom of expression”!
https://t.co/I8uD5u96t0

— 全球热点新闻 (@__Inty__) November 27, 2022

A Twitter user later posted an update on Nov. 27, sharing that the Deputy Secretary of Communist Party of China Tsinghua University Committee was speaking to the students.

deputy secretary of the party committee of tsinghua university(清华大学党委副书记 过勇) communicated with students pic.twitter.com/M5L5XyAkjG

— chipeyown (@chipeyown1) November 27, 2022

The students later left after he promised them that he would hold a school-wide discussion.

The universities are not the only places where people are showing their anger against the country's continued adherence to strict Covid measures. Hundreds of demonstrators in major cities including Shanghai and Chengdu have taken to civil disobedience to voice their anger, Reuters reported.

The latest wave of protests followed news of the fire in the city of Urumqi in Xinjiang, which killed 10 people. Speculations were rife that the victims ended up dying as they were trapped in the building and could not escape due to the stringent lockdown restrictions.

Reuters reported a 26-year-old man as saying that he came to give his respects to the victims of the fire. He added that he hoped to see an end to the drastic Covid measures so they can return to normal lives again.

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Top image via @wodanggangqiang/Twitter.