Students beat principal over food prices

About 3,000 students damaged school equipment and beat the principal to express their anger at highly-priced food in the cafeteria of a boarding vocational school in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, xkb.com.cn reported.

The protest began at 10 pm when students hooted and threw garbage from their dormitories. It ended at 2 am after police caught several troublemakers.

A student, surnamed Li, said prices at the school cafeteria, clinic and shops were much higher than outside. They had asked the school to deal with it several times but had been ignored.

The school said food prices have been reduced in response to students' requests and suggested the protest had been initiated by students who had previously been expelled.