Who Punched a Protester against China Lockdowns at Columbia University?

A woman protesting China’s zero-Covid restrictions was punched in the head and knocked out during a demonstration on the campus of Columbia University last week.

A video of the incident shows a woman speaking into a megaphone in front of Columbia’s Low Library and then being assaulted, mid-sentence, by a man:

Police are said to be looking for the suspect, according to a report on Friday in the New York Daily News.

It’s possible that the suspect is merely a staunch supporter of zero-Covid policies or of the Chinese Communist Party itself. But given the extent of Beijing-linked transnational repression incidents revealed to be taking place on U.S. soil, it’s obviously reasonable to wonder whether he has any ties to entities involved in such plots.

The same report quotes a Columbia spokesperson responding to the incident and saying that Columbia’s emergency responders took the woman to a hospital: “While this was not a university-sponsored event, we are aware of a gathering on campus in which this incident occurred. In general, we uphold freedom of speech and assembly on our campus.”

That’s neither a specific condemnation of the assault nor a specific endorsement of Chinese students’ ability to protest the Chinese government without facing fear of reprisal. It’s a patent, and cowardly, attempt to avoid commenting in a way that could be perceived as hostile to Beijing.