It was a clip destined to go viral.
On July 22, 2026, in rainy Mumbai, a casually dressed young woman stopped in front of a slow-moving police van carrying detained students. She placed her palm on the hood, forcing the vehicle to stop. Mobile phones captured the moment from every angle. And she picked up her phone and recorded the encounter, writes DW.
Within hours, the video went viral India, and then around the world. It became one of the key visuals of the "People's Cockroach Party" protests, where students demanded transparency and accountability after information about the country's medical school entrance exams was leaked. But the power of the moment was not just what she did, but how quickly it was seen. One gesture - a young woman confronting authority - became a symbol that was shared on millions of screens-
Although the video belongs to a generation that grew up on social media, the impulse behind it is much older. From court petitions and revolutionary posters, to photographs, umbrellas and memes: student movements have repeatedly adapted the tools and symbols available to them, turning them into vehicles for dissent.
How to express disagreement at court
Long before television or social media could transmit their displeasure with the system across borders, students were still finding ways to air their grievances. For example, in China during the Eastern Han Dynasty, scholars at the Imperial Academy (Taishue) allied with reform-minded officials in opposing the powerful court eunuchs, who many considered corrupt and politically dominant. They expressed their objections through public criticism, forming political networks and writing petitions.
In an era when political communication took place through official channels, petitions were one of the established ways of presenting complaints to the emperor. Written in formal language and delivered through the bureaucracy, they conveyed student concerns directly into the state communication system.
Posters from the "People's Studio"
Centuries later, mechanisms of communication and protest developed.
In Paris in 1968, students challenged university authorities and the conservative postwar social order. As demonstrations spread across the French capital and attracted workers, one of the movement's most lasting contributions emerged from a workshop in the basement of the School of Fine Arts.
The "People's Studio" there printed thousands of posters during the protests, many of them during the night. Their bold graphics, silhouettes and slogans became the visual language of the movement. Produced collectively, many had no individual author, helping to transform the protest into a collective public voice.
The posters and their messages could appear in dozens of places overnight, giving the protest a wide local visual presence.
Photography as a global witness
The protests became even more influential when the photos began to be transmitted across borders.
In June 1976, black South African students marched in Soweto against the educational policies of the apartheid system – rejecting Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction in black schools. Many saw it as the language of a repressive state and an obstacle to equal education.
While thousands of students were on the streets, the police opened fire. Amidst the chaos, South African photographer Sam Nzima captured a photo that will go around the world: 13-year-old Hector Peterson being carried away from the scene after being fatally shot.
The photograph has become one of the most significant images of apartheid. For many outside of South Africa, this was the lens through which they viewed and understood the student protest. It helped build international awareness of and opposition to apartheid.
When photos become iconic
In the spring of 1989, students gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. They demanded democratic reforms, freedom of expression and an end to corruption. As the protests grew, so did the need for symbols that could convey their message outside the square.
In the final weeks of the occupation of Tiananmen Square, students built the Goddess of Democracy. Facing a portrait of Mao Zedong, the ten-meter statue became a powerful symbol of the movement.
But while the students were creating one icon, history took care of another.
After a brutal military crackdown on protesters, a photo of a lone man standing facing a column of tanks went viral around the world.
The global media did not create these symbols, they reinforced them. Cameras, newspapers and television transformed these local acts of defiance into permanent images of resistance.
Among other things, in Serbia - from 1968, through 1991 and 1996/97, until today.
From organizers to participants
Over time, protest communication no longer flowed only from the organizers to the outside. Masses and passers-by increasingly shaped her communication.
In Chile in 2011, students demanding education reform used flash mobs, performances and public spectacles to draw attention to their cause. The protest was no longer just something people watched. It became something they could AND join.
In Hong Kong in 2014, students protesting Beijing's plans for electoral reform turned everyday objects into political symbols. What began as a practical response to pepper spray and tear gas quickly became the defining image of the "Umbrella Movement."
Modeled after John Lennon's original "Prague Wall", which was erected in Prague in 1988, eight years after his assassination, and which later provided a space for people to express their disagreement with the communist regime, Hong Kong's "Lennon Walls" have also become centers of public expression. They attracted thousands of people who left messages of support and protest on sticky notes on walls throughout the city.
From insult to symbol
And then there are the political platforms that shape which symbols become widely visible, as is now the case in India.
Students protesting exam irregularities took the insult directed at them and made it their own: "The Cockroach" quickly became one of the movement's most recognizable symbols online.
Memes and videos often spread faster than official announcements, and students use them to respond to criticism, mock their opponents and garner support. Like a poster in Paris or an umbrella in Hong Kong – this particular example shows how memes can transform a disparaging label into a powerful symbol of protest.
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