British police have opened an investigation into the assault of a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester who says he was dragged into the Chinese Consulate in Manchester and beaten up during a demonstration. Britain's foreign secretary summoned China's second-most senior diplomat in the UK on Tuesday to express the UK's "deep concern" about the assault allegations and to demand an explanation for the actions of the Chinese consulate staff, the AP reports. Police in the Manchester said a peaceful protest outside the consulate on Sunday turned into a "hostile" situation when unidentified men came out of the building, dragged one protester into the consulate grounds and assaulted him. Police said officers had to intervene and remove the man.
The man, who is in his 30s, told reporters that he was beaten up when protesters tried to stop the masked men from tearing down their anti-government placards outside the gates of the consulate. "They dragged me inside, they beat me up," he told the BBC. The protesters had gathered at the consulate as the Chinese Communist Party opened its weeklong congress in Beijing on Sunday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin rejected the accounts of the protester and Manchester police. He told reporters Tuesday that the protester had "illegally entered" the consulate and "jeopardized the security of the Chinese diplomatic premises."
"The diplomatic missions of all countries have the right to take necessary measures to maintain the peace and dignity of the premises," Wang said. Downing Street said the incident was “deeply concerning" and a Foreign Office official summoned Chinese charge d'affaires Yang Xiaoguang on Tuesday. "Today we have made our view clear to the Chinese authorities: the right to peaceful protest in the UK must be respected," said Foreign Office minister Zac Goldsmith. Several UK lawmakers pressed the British government to take tougher action. "We cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to import their beating of protesters and their silencing of free speech ... to British soil," said Alicia Kearns, chair of Parliament's foreign affairs committee. The Chinese consul general was among the men who ripped down the protesters' posters, Kearns added.
(More
Chinese consulate stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
