A protester was knocked unconscious, wacked multiple times in the head, by an unknown assailant at a demonstration Monday evening at Columbia University where hundreds gathered calling for an end to China's "zero-COVID" lockdown policies.
Police in New York City said a 21-year-old woman attending the rally was approached just before 8 p.m. outside the Low Memorial Library and beaten until she lost consciousness.
A surveillance image of the suspected attacker was obtained by authorities and released to the public on Friday. The man, who police believe is in his 30s, ran from the scene toward the Morningside Heights side of campus. It wasn't immediately clear what led up to the attack.
In a statement, Columbia University told NBC New York that while the protest was not a "university sponsored event, we are aware of a gathering on campus in which this incident occurred." The university went on to say "In general, we uphold freedom of speech and assembly on our campus."
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EMS for the university arrived shortly after the attack and took the victim to the hospital.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact police.
The day after the attack on the college campus, about 400 people gathered across the street from the consulate in New York, holding signs saying "Citizen Dignity Freedom" and "Free China."
Protests against the country's ongoing COVID-19 restrictions have grown in the past week following the deaths of 10 people in a fire in northwestern China, deaths that some blamed on the strict anti-virus controls.
Chinese authorities' restrictive “zero-COVID” strategy has led to demonstrations in at least eight mainland cities and Hong Kong. They have been called the most widespread protests since the 1989 student-led Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.
