Hong Kong Watch and leading Parliamentarians call on Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary to act urgently in response to violent attacks against protesters at Chinese Consulate in Manchester

Hong Kong Watch condemns the appalling violence perpetrated by individuals who are reportedly officials from the Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester against peaceful demonstrators at a protest earlier today.

Shocking video footage circulating on social media shows protesters, believed to be Hong Kongers, dragged behind the gates of the Chinese Consulate-General and seriously beaten. Footage also shows a man being held while his hair is pulled and fingers are shoved into his eyes. It is alleged that one of the perpetrators may have been the Consul-General himself, Zheng Xiyuan.

British politicians reacted immediately on Twitter. 

Hong Kong Watch’s Patron Lord Alton of Liverpool urged Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to “establish the facts surrounding this violent assault” and called on the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to “insist that Manchester Police give the city’s Hong Kong citizens protection and bring the assailants to justice.” He later tweeted that if the Consul-General was proven to be involved, the UK government “should demand he pack his bags and leave now”. 

Catherine West MP, the Labour Party’s Shadow Minister for Asia and also a Patron of Hong Kong Watch, described the scenes as “deeply concerning” and also called on the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary to investigate urgently. She added: “I’ve previously raised protections for Hong Kongers in the UK with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and this will be raised in Parliament urgently.”

The newly elected Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns MP, tweeted that: “The CCP will not import their beating of protestors and denial of free speech to British streets.” She called on the government to summon the Chinese ambassador and said that “if any official has beaten protesters, they must be expelled or prosecuted.”

Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), added his voice too, calling on the Home Secretary to act.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch, said tonight: “This is a truly outrageous incident and those responsible must face severe consequences. If the footage and reports are accurate, it would appear that Chinese Consulate officials assaulted peaceful protesters and, even more seriously, dragged them into the Consulate to beat them up. They must not be allowed to get away with this, they cannot be allowed to hide behind diplomatic immunity, and they must be investigated and, if found guilty by an investigation, they should either face criminal prosecution or immediate expulsion. We in Hong Kong Watch entirely agree with the various Parliamentarians who have called on the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary to act urgently to summon the Chinese Ambassador and to expel any Chinese diplomats responsible for this incident. We cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party regime’s thuggery, brutality, inhumanity and criminality on the streets of Britain against peaceful demonstrators exercising their basic right to protest.”