China arrests Marxist student leader for celebrating Mao’s birthday

BEIJING: Chinese police detained a well-known Marxist student activist at a top university on Wednesday, a witness said, for attempting to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Mao Zedong, whose legacy in China remains controversial. A student eyewitness told AFP that Qiu Zhanxuan, the head of Peking University’s Marxist society, was forced into a black car by seven or eight plain-clothes officers near the subway station outside the university’s east gate. Qiu was "screaming and resisting arrest", the student said, declining to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue. "I heard him say I am Qiu Zhanxuan... I did not break the law. Why are you taking me away? What are you doing?" The eyewitness said police showed their "public security department documents", when questioned by onlookers. Peking University and the Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for comment. Considered China’s most prestigious university, Peking University has a history of student activism with its alumni playing a key role in the pro-democracy Tiananmen protests in 1989.