Authorities across China are cracking down on thousands of college students who took part in mass night-cycling events that commentators said could be seen as a new form of protest against the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The police department in Henan’s Zhengzhou city issued a warning to students on Nov. 9, following a mass “night ride to Kaifeng” by thousands of young people a day earlier, as a social media video about riding to the city in search of dumplings spawned dozens of copycat outings, eventually expanding to a mass cycle ride that some observers said left the authorities rattled, concerned that it could turn into a political protest like the “white paper” movement two years ago, or Halloween in Shanghai.

Edit: these events are widely reported by diverse news sources:

BBC | CNN | ABC (Australia) | Sky News

  • ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    ?? It was a social media craze about dumplings wtf are you talking about. If they actually “banned it” then it was because it was incredibly unorganized and people could have got hurt. It was not expected to be so dense.

    Edit: Lmao its radio radio free asia 💀