Chinese Students Plan to Continue Strike

BEIJING--Students at universities in Beijing vowed yesterday to continue their five-day boycott, and wall posters at several schools proclaimed victory a day after more than 150,000 of them and their supporters marched triumphantly for democracy.

"The strike must go on," read a new poster at Beijing Normal University.

"We must persist until final victory," read another at People's University.

The government announced Thursday that it was willing to talk with students about their demands for greater freedom. But student leaders rejected the government's stipulation that talks be conducted through official student groups.

Protesters at most schools have rejected the groups as nondemocratic and have formed their own student unions. The government has declared the unions illegal.

Student leaders from several schools met today to discuss strategy.

"We talked about the march but didn't come to any decisions," said one leader at Beijing Normal University who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Right now we are savoring this victory. We have made the Communist Party bend."

Wang Dan, a student leader at Beijing University, said student leaders hoped talks would be held soon and wanted to meet with Premier Li Peng.

"He is the leader of the government and he should hear all the views of the citizens," he said.

Newspapers throughout China carried a Xinhua News Agency story on the protest that said only about 30,000 students participated in Thursday's march.

But the 20-mile march through the streets of Beijing drew more than 150,000 students, workers and city residents who called for a free press and political reforms. It was Communist China's largest protest in modern times and lasted 15 hours.

The march was sparked by an editorial Wednesday in the People's Daily, which called the student movement a "chaotic disturbance" and accused the students of being unpatriotic.

Protesters who led the march carried a poster that said: "Uphold the righteous leaders of the party."

Today's Xinhua report was significant because it did not accuse the students of calling for the overthrow of the government. Most students say they only want the leaders to do their job better and respect human rights.

The television news yesterday broadcasted the first tape of the march. The report also repeated a warning that the protest was illegal and that organizers were breaking the law.

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, published an overview of the previous two weeks of protests in an apparent attempt to pacify angry students.

The article denied that students had been beaten in Beijing last week when they staged a sit-in at the gates of the Communist Party headquarters. An Associated Press reporter saw police hit six students.

The article also attempted to dispel a rumor that a female student had been killed in the protest. The woman, it said, was hit by a car as she returned from the demonstration. Many students believe police killed her, although it appeared the newspaper's account was correct.

During Thursday's march, tens of thousands of Beijing residents escorted the students on bicycles and on foot, and tried to shield them from soldiers and police.

"We're opening a road for them," said one worker, after he helped push through a line of officers.