[2] At around 7:30 pm on January 6, 2003, at the intersection of Tunxi and Xuancheng Rd (near the southern entrance to the Hefei University of Technology), there was a car accident that caused the injury of three female students.
In the afternoon of January 7, 2003, an influential newspaper in Anhui Province called the Xinan Evening Post (新安晚报) published a controversial article saying that the students were victims to a driver who had overrun a red light.
At 12 noon on January 7, students from Hefei University of Technology gathered at the front gate, blocking the traffic on Tunxi and Xuancheng roads.
However, at this point, the situation became out of control and the hardliners began attacking the newspaper's facilities, showing tendencies towards arson.
At around 7 pm, the area in front of the entrance to Hefei University of Technology remained closed to vehicles.
While the protesters were dissatisfied with the initial actions with respect to the commission of the crime as well as its resolution, there was no violent dispersal, which could have aggravated the situation.
When news broke out about the protest, Hu Jintao, the then newly installed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the figure being groomed to be head of state during the March National People's Congress (NPC), expressed his sympathy for the Hefei students, urging authorities and the protesters to hold dialogues to resolve the unrest.