HUNDREDS of students joined a peaceful demonstration and signed a petition against human rights violations in China.
The gathering outside South-ampton University's Student Union building took many by surprise but scores were willing to add their signatures calling for
the arrest of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin for pers-ecuting followers of Falun Gong - a form of yoga.
One student, Xiaomin Pang, was locked in a cage for four hours in the bitterly cold weather covered in fake blood to get her point across.
Chin Liang, 28, a student at the university has lived in Southamp-ton for two years after fleeing China for practising Falun Gong.
She said: "Falun Gong is a form of yoga and in 1999 there were 100 million people practising it. When Jiang Zemin came to power he that year ordered us to stop. I had to sign a contract saying I wouldn't do it any more. I was working as a teacher and lost my job."
Falun Gong is a traditional spiritual discipline which combines exercise and meditation.
The total number of signatures has not yet been counted but runs into hundreds and will be sent to the United Nations.
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