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Wind whipped through the flags on Syracuse University’s Shaw Quadrangle as a crowd of students gathered quietly at the foot of Hendricks Chapel’s steps on Monday evening.

Despite the cold and wind, around 50 students gathered outside of Hendricks for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the 10 people killed in an apartment building fire in Urumqi, China on Thursday night.

The fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi, the capital city of the western Xinjiang region, where residents could not escape because of the current COVID-19 lockdown policies. Protests have broken out across China in the wake of the fire, with people calling for diminished restrictions and criticizing government leaders for the strict protocols.

Though Chinese state media identified the death toll as 10 people, including children, BBC News reported the actual toll could be higher.

To show their support for the victims, students at the vigil lit candles and placed them, along with bouquets of flowers, on the bottom steps of Hendricks over the course of an hour. A small group of students stood silently on the steps and held blank white pieces of paper, which have been used as a symbol of protest against censorship at protests in China.

Ruby Qu, an international student from China and SU senior who attended the vigil, said she and her friends were planning their own remembrance event before they heard about Monday’s vigil through Instagram. She also said the event showed how the fire was on many peoples’ minds.

Qu said she was at a Thanksgiving celebration in Atlanta when she heard about the fire. The fire felt like an “accumulation” of issues, she said.

“It’s just not right,” Qu said. “It hasn’t been right for a long time.”

Qu said although some people may view international students’ protests against the fire or lockdowns as “poisoned by capitalism,” her own motivation in coming to the vigil was out of love for her home country.

“I feel like nobody, even those people who died in the fire, they weren’t even trying to fight or anything, they just wanted to live,” she said.

Maggie Zhao, also a senior international student from China, said she wanted to attend the vigil to commemorate the lives lost in the fire and demonstrate her disagreement with the COVID-19 restriction policies in China.

“It’s just terrible, I feel like I can’t be at home and doing nothing or just post on Instagram,” Zhao said.

She also said she wanted to participate in the vigil because of her connection to the Chinese community.

“I identify as Chinese. This is my identity,” Zhao said. “I can’t just do nothing about this terrible thing that happened.”

Published on November 29, 2022 at 12:44 am

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu