{"id":230953,"date":"2021-05-11T17:23:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T00:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=230953"},"modified":"2021-05-13T22:43:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T05:43:05","slug":"netizen-voices-demands-for-investigation-transparency-follow-students-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2021\/05\/netizen-voices-demands-for-investigation-transparency-follow-students-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Netizen Voices: Demands For Investigation, Transparency Follow Student’s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Chinese student’s fatal fall from a building on Sunday has triggered a public uproar in China, as thousands took to social media to demand a transparent investigation into the boy’s death. Chengdu police had earlier ruled the 17-year-old high school student’s death a suicide, but their refusal to show his mother surveillance footage and allow her to see his body triggered public suspicion and anger, as comments translated by CDT below illustrate. Sixth Tone’s Du Xinyu and Liu Mengqiu reported on local authorities’ handling of the case, and the reasons for the mother’s suspicions<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

But Weiqi\u2019s mother, surnamed Lu, doesn\u2019t buy this, saying the school has been less than transparent with her since the tragedy. She wasn\u2019t informed of her son\u2019s death until two hours later, she said, which has left her clamoring for the real account of his last moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school\u2019s current strategy is to shut all of us out, and not tell us what exactly happened,\u201d Lu wrote in a post Monday morning on microblogging platform Weibo. \u201cOur request to see the surveillance footage was rejected. When we tried to question other students about the incident, the school dismissed the entire class and warned them to keep their mouths shut.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026] In a separate post Monday, Lu said the police told her that her son\u2019s body was taken directly to a funeral home instead of to the hospital, where a coroner could have given an authoritative cause of death. To her, this raised further questions about the school\u2019s handling of the boy\u2019s death.
\n[Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

South China Morning Post’s William Zheng reported further on authorities’ response to the incident:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A joint statement by the district propaganda department, the police and the education bureau said that investigators had come to the initial conclusion that \u201cthe student took his own life due to personal problems\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lin\u2019s mother, surnamed Lu, had earlier queried the transparency of the initial investigation and said on social media that she had not yet been allowed to see her son\u2019s body. She said \u201ctoo many unanswered questions\u201d remained.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Lu\u2019s comments caused uproar online as thousands voiced their anger and backed her call for greater transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no details, no timeline, no surveillance footage, no autopsy report, no witnesses\u2019 accounts, yet they concluded that his death was due to \u2018personal problems\u2019?\u201d one person posted under the initial official statement. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Protest in front of Chengdu 49 middle school, police have cleared the area. pic.twitter.com\/74yAtHEGDX<\/a><\/p>\n

— \u4e2d\u56fd\u50bb\u4e8b (@China_Silly) May 11, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n