Hong Kong protester calls assault at Chinese language consulate in Manchester ‘barbaric’Yesterday

A Hong Kong protester on Wednesday described getting pulled into the Chinese language consulate in Manchester, England, and overwhelmed up by a number of workers members throughout an incident that has escalated tensions between Britain and China.

Bob Chan mentioned he and others had been holding a peaceable antigovernment protest outdoors the consulate on Sunday when masked males got here out, tore down the protesters’ banners and dragged him contained in the buildings gates.

Talking throughout a information convention in London, Chan rejected the Chinese language authorities’s declare that he had illegally entered the consulate’s grounds and threatened its safety.

“The assault solely stopped when police pulled me outdoors. Let me say once more: It’s clear I used to be dragged into the consulate. I didn’t try to enter the consulate voluntarily,” he mentioned.

British lawmakers, together with former Conservative Celebration chief Iain Duncan Smith, have urged the U.Okay. authorities to expel any Chinese language diplomats concerned. Chan’s supporters alleged the Chinese language consul basic in Manchester and different Chinese language diplomats took half within the reported assault.

Chan, who not too long ago fled Hong Kong after Beijing intensified its crackdown on civil liberties within the metropolis, mentioned he suffered accidents to his eyes, his again and his head the place his hair was pulled. He described the assault as “barbaric” and “unprovoked.”

“I imagine the U.Okay. is a really protected place, a spot with freedom of speech. That (Chinese language) consulate workers can so overtly pull somebody inside and beat them up in broad daylight is unimaginable,” he mentioned. “It’s surprising, and this could not occur.”

China’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned a protester “illegally entered” the consulate and “jeopardized the safety of the Chinese language diplomatic premises,” and that Chinese language diplomatic missions overseas have the correct to take “needed measures” to keep up safety.

Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin mentioned Wednesday that China has complained to the U.Okay. over the “deliberate harassment of China’s consulate basic in Manchester.”

“As a result of unlawful and deliberate harassment and entry into China’s consulate basic, Chinese language personnel had been wounded and the safety of the premises of the consulate got here underneath risk,” Wang mentioned in Beijing. “The safety, peace and dignity of China’s diplomatic missions should not be violated.”

Higher Manchester Police mentioned detectives had been reviewing proof to ascertain a full image of what occurred. Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts mentioned police had been conscious the incident induced “shock and concern” however pressured the investigation would take time.

No arrests have been made up to now.

A British International Workplace official summoned Chinese language cost d’affaires Yang Xiaoguang on Tuesday to emphasize that the correct to peaceable protest should be revered within the U.Okay.