The death of a teenage boy sparked violent protests in a city in northwest China, the BBC has confirmed via verified video.

In videos shared on social media, protesters could be seen throwing objects at police and beating some demonstrators in Pucheng, Shaanxi province.

The teen fell to his death during an incident in a school dormitory on Jan. 2, authorities said. But after his death, allegations that he was covered up began circulating on social media.

Protests broke out quickly and lasted for several days before apparently being quelled earlier this week. The BBC has not seen any further evidence of protests in Pucheng since.

Public demonstrations are not uncommon in China, but authorities have been particularly sensitive to such protests since 2022 protests over a white paper on coronavirus policies, which have drawn rare criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping.

State media remained silent on the Pucheng protests. Any clips or mentions of the demonstrations were largely censored on Chinese social media, as is often the case with events deemed sensitive by authorities.

But several videos have been leaked from China and posted on X.

The BBC has confirmed that the videos were filmed at the Pucheng Vocational Education Center and no earlier versions have been found online before the protests that reportedly broke out over the past few days.

When the BBC contacted a representative from the Pucheng government’s propaganda department, he denied that a protest had taken place. There was no reply when we called officials handling media inquiries.

The local government said in a statement released earlier this week that the teenager, surnamed Dang, was a third-year student at Pucheng Education Center.

Their statement said that before his death, Dang was awakened in the middle of the night by the chatter of other students in the dormitory. He got into an argument and altercation with a boy, which school officials resolved.

Later that night, another student discovered his body at the foot of the dormitory building.

The statement described it as “an accident in which a student fell from a height at school.” The statement added that police had conducted an investigation and an autopsy and “this has been ruled out as a criminal matter at this time”.

But allegations have circulated online in the past few days that there was something more to the story, and that the school and authorities hid the truth. One theory claimed without evidence that Deng committed suicide after being bullied by a boy with whom he had previously fought.

Unconfirmed claims from his family have circulated that the injuries on Dang’s body did not match the authorities’ account and that they were not allowed to examine his body for an extended period of time.

The accusations appeared to anger many in Pucheng, triggering protests by at least hundreds of people.

Bullying has become a highly sensitive topic in China in recent years, with past student deaths sparking protests. Last month, a Chinese court handed down a lengthy prison sentence Two teenagers murder classmate.

Videos also posted on X on Monday, which the BBC confirmed were filmed at Pucheng Vocational Education Centre, showed people mourning the teenager’s death. They laid flowers and offerings at the school gate and threw pieces of paper from the roof of the teaching building in a traditional mourning ceremony.

Other videos circulating online appeared to show demonstrators, many of them young, storming a building and clashing with police while shouting “tell us the truth.”

A verified video shows a school official being confronted by shouting protesters who pushed and shoved him. Other photos showed destroyed offices in the compound and protesters tearing down barricades at the school’s entrance.

Other videos showed protesters throwing traffic cones and other objects at retreating police; officers beating people with batons and detaining them. Some protesters had blood on their heads and faces.

There is little information about what happened next, but reports on social media showed an increased police presence in Pucheng in recent days, but there were no further reports of demonstrations.

The authorities also called on the public not to “create, believe, or spread rumours.”