Man detained by police during protest at University of Queensland

A protester was moved on by Queensland police as a crowd gathered at the University of Queensland today, a week after a violent clash between pro-China activists and Hong Kong democracy supporters.

A PROTESTER was detained by Queensland police as a large crowd gathered at the University of Queensland today to condemn the university’s China-backed Confucius Institute.

A week on from a violent clash which took place on the grounds of UQ between Hong Kong democracy supporters and pro-China activists, hundreds swamped the university’s centre protesting the controversial Institute’s operations on campus.

Young man detained by police, University of Queensland students protest against the uni's China-aligned Confucius Institute, St Lucia. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The large crowd of students and supporters, led by a group named Transparency 4 UQ, called for “greater transparency” surrounding UQ’s dealings with the Confucius Institute, which offers language and cultural services, but has also been accused by some critics of being a propaganda tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

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While the demonstration remained relatively peaceful one protester, holding signs with slogans such as “UQ takes Chinese blood money” and “Xi Jinping poos his big boy pants”, was spoken to by uniformed and plainclothes police before being taken away and detained.

Young man detained by police, University of Queensland students protest against the uni's China-aligned Confucius Institute, St Lucia. Picture: Liam Kidston.

A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed a 22-year-old Indooroopilly man had been issued a move on direction, but no charges had been laid.

A masked group of Hong Kong students studying at UQ told The Courier-Mail they were afraid to show their faces at the protest, after pictures were circulated by pro-China activists online after last week’s event.

“UQ students have been very supportive of what’s been happening at our home,” one female student, who asked not to be named, said.

“After last week we don’t want to show our faces ­— we know they (China) are using facial recognition to quickly identify people — but we still wanted to come.”