A group of Chinese students at Goldsmiths in Lewisham have now been allowed to put back posters opposing the re-election of Xi Jinping as their country’s president on university notice boards after they were removed on the order of the university authorities two weeks ago.

A spokesperson for Goldsmiths said: “Students have been invited to reinstate the posters, following a review which concluded that they are appropriate for a public setting.” Students protested that other posters, criticised the regimes in Iran and Russia had been allowed in university buildings.

Anthea Zhang, a 22-year-old student from China, had been prevented from pinning posters on the notice board in the main Richard Hoggart Building that contained slogans saying “not my president” with pictures of Xi Jinping by security staff due to an “order” from the administration of the university.

“We felt that this was a bureaucratic response, quite classically making excuses… I am pretty sure they were not reviewing the posters. There was English on them in the first place… What’s there to be reviewed?” Zhang said.

“The security stopped me and said some people were writing abusive language on it (the poster), so I can’t do it,” Zhang said.

“He said he was with me personally but has been informed by the administration that we were not allowed to post them on campus.”

Zhang, a postgraduate student in Media and Communications, is not the only Chinese student in Goldsmiths who wants to express herself politically.

“I met another Chinese girl after I came out of the building. She didn’t manage to post it either and was furious. She walked towards me when hearing me talking to security and started arguing with him.

“She said to the security that you are not going to stop Ukrainian and Iranian students from putting up their posters to fight against Russia or their own government; why are you doing this to Chinese students?

“We are very disappointed by Goldsmiths. We chose to come here because it is a quite lefty and free university which claims itself as ‘politically active’. But now it is stopping people from expressing themselves freely.”

Zhang was later invited to a talk hosted by Professor Louise Chambers in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies discussing possible measures on Sunday afternoon.

“She was very supportive and said, ‘you should put them on everywhere. People here don’t care about what happened in your country. You should let them know.’ She even said we could organise a protest if there isn’t any response from the university.”

“Being Chinese or Asian, I feel like we don’t get much attention from the media. There are many miseries…So, I must make my point loudly to let people know what is happening in China.” Zhang said.

Controversy over the legitimacy of Xi Jinping’s re-election has been rising within China and beyond following the convening of the 20th China Communist Party Congress this month.