Students in eastern China who protested an alleged downgrading of their degrees may now face retribution, with police entering campuses to check phones for demonstration images or foreign apps, according to sources.

Dramatic scenes emerged during the week from the Zhongbei College of Nanjing Normal University in Jiangsu province, where police wielded batons and pepper spray to break up a demonstration and rescue the principal, who was said to have been “illegally detained” by students for more than 30 hours.

Three provincial education departments suspended college merger plans after the ruckus in Nanjing. They had been following a state-level proposal to combine independent colleges and vocational institutes to economize resources, a move that students said would degrade their degrees.

Despite the concessionary outcome, a screenshot from a messenger conversation seen by Apple Daily suggested that Zhongbei College students were called to a staff member’s office and were instead met by police officers, who searched their phones and questioned them.

According to the conversation, if police find photos or chats relating to the protest on the phones, the school will record a disciplinary offense on the students’ files that cannot be removed even for those who are soon graduating.

If their phones contain foreign apps such as Twitter or Facebook, the offending students will be placed in detention regardless of whether they have actually posted any content. Five or six students have reportedly been detained so far.

The student who disclosed the messenger conversation said he was fortunate to escape detention, having eliminated sensitive content from his phone before the surprise interrogation, but still received a warning. He learned from a staff member that students who were under police detention would definitely be expelled and might also have to bear criminal responsibility.

In China, independent colleges offer undergraduate degree education and are usually cofounded by universities and social organizations. These colleges operate with multiple funding sources but do not draw from the state coffers.

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