But one third-year student at Sichuan University said that although limits on medium and high-risk districts had started to ease by March 10, tight restrictions remained in force on campus until Tuesday.

“We had to obtain approval from a counsellor every time we needed to leave the campus,” said the student, who declined to be named for fear of punishment. “But actually no one could get such approval unless you have really critical matters like family members passing away.”

He said while most of the students understood the need for lockdowns and were willing to follow instructions, his classmates questioned the decision to extend the lockdown after the local government said the city was free of new cases.

“We are all educated. We support necessary control measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. But while we are not allowed to leave the school freely, many of us saw people walking around the campus. That is not fair, right?”

A first-year student said she had been angered to see people walking their dogs around the campus.

“Some were family members of the teaching staff, and others were obviously just members of the public who came onto our campus for a stroll. If the school allows visitors, we should be allowed to go out too,” she said.

Images started circulating on social media of a red banner that had reportedly appeared on a flyover over a street in a busy shopping district and read “Sichuan University belongs to all teachers and students, not just bureaucrats”.

Shenzhen reopens after Covid lockdown but controls stay in place for some

Although the banner was said to have been quickly removed, the images ignited heated discussions online and students said angry messages had started appearing on the whiteboards of lecture rooms.

One message said “students can’t leave the campus, but dogs can”, while another longer message quoted China’s constitution – which says “citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the right to speech, publication, assembly, association, procession and demonstration” – and urged the university administration to “learn the constitution, understand the constitution, abide by the constitution”.

The Sichuan University students’ campaign won support from their counterparts at other universities who face similar restrictions on campus.

The topic “Open up Sichuan University” has been trending on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, since last week.

The university authorities tried to tamp down the protests. Students said their class counsellors had urged them to “remain calm” and not to “take part in those activities”.

The Sichuan provincial government also weighed in quickly. Vice-governor Luo Qiang chaired a special meeting on Wednesday and ordered universities to lift the “one-size-fits-all” restrictions as the province’s Covid-19 risk was low.

Sichuan University issued a notice on Wednesday allowing students to leave the campus as long as they have a green health code that indicates they are low-risk.

Other universities in the city, including Chengdu University of Information Technology, also introduced similar measures.

Chinese Covid-19 lockdowns: Jilin residents vent anger over food shortages

A Sichuan University staff member answering phone inquiries on Friday declined to comment on the matter, saying that such questions should be directed to the government.

Education establishments in other parts of China have seen clusters of cases as the country battles to contain its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the initial stages of the pandemic, with the country seeing around 2,000 cases a day at present.

Many students complained about the school’s slow reaction and inadequate support leaving them helpless during the outbreak in the campus.

Several education officials were sacked or punished in Laixi, Shandong province, on March 4 after a secondary school failed to curb the initial outbreak resulting in over 200 infections among the pupils.