Footage of a pro-Hong Kong protester being dragged into a Chinese consulate by masked men and beaten up has emerged online, with MPs now demanding action be taken against the Chinese government.
A pro-Hong Kong democracy protester has allegedly been left with injuries after being dragged into the grounds of the Chinese consulate in Manchester and beaten up.
The incident occurred during a pro-democracy demonstration outside the building coinciding with the Chinese Communist Party’s annual congress, at which President Xi Jinping is expected to be handed an unprecedented third term in office, an achievement that would arguably make him the most powerful Chinese ruler since Chairman Mao Zedong.
According to a report on the incident by the BBC, the protest against the Chinese government was assaulted by unknown masked men who originated from within the consulate buildings.
The men were videoed attacking banners, before eventually dragging one protester within the bounds of the consulate building, where it appears he was beaten up.
A police officer is then reported as subsequently entering the grounds of the consulate before managing to free the protester from the assailants.
“It’s ridiculous,” the attacked protester — referred to simply as Bob — is said to have told the BBC. “They [the attackers] shouldn’t have done that. We are supposed to have freedom to say whatever we want here [in the UK].”
Bob is also said to have blamed the attack on what he called Chinese “mainlanders”, with Voice of America’s Cantonese division meanwhile reporting that the man allegedly sustained injuries as a result of the assault.
“After I was pulled in, I was punched and kicked. I had scars on my face, bleeding and swelling,” Bob reportedly said. “Hair was pulled from my head, swollen and bruised. I had bruises on my neck and back, and my waist was a little sore.”
He went on to describe the CCP as being “arrogant”, before emphasising that he would “continue to oppose” the regime in the future.
According to the BBC, the UK government has described reports of the attack as being “extremely concerning”, with politicians across the political spectrum coming out to demand action be taken against Chinese authorities over the incident.
“The UK Government must demand a full apology from the Chinese Ambassador to the UK and demand those responsible are sent home to China,” former Conservative Party leader Ian Duncan Smith wrote online, tagging the accounts of Home Office Secretary Suella Braverman, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK and the UK Prime Minister in his post.
Duncan Smith’s call for action was backed by Alicia Kearns, who called on both Braverman and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to “urgently” investigate the incident.
“The CCP will not import their beating of protestors and denial of free speech to British streets,” Kearns, who serves as the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a social media post.
“Chinese Ambassador should be summoned & if any official has beaten protesters, they must be expelled or prosecuted,” she went on to say.
Leftist Labour Party shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, also called for action to be taken, demanding that the Chinese ambassador be summoned to answer for the incident.
“The Foreign Secretary must urgently summon the Chinese Ambassador for an explanation over reports that a pro-democracy protestor was allegedly assaulted in the grounds of the Chinese consulate in Manchester,” the Labour MP wrote.
“The quashing of peaceful protest will never be tolerated on our streets,” Lammy went on to emphasise.
It is not the first time that pro-Beijing forces have used violence to try to suppress activists from the Hong Kong Diaspora in Britain, with pro-communist attendees of a November “Stop Anti-Asian Racism and Reject the New Cold War” rally in London attacking demonstrators protesting the genocidal treatment of the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities by the Chinese Communist Party. Following the China Town protest, it was revealed that prominent Hong Kong activists, such as Nathan Law and Simon Cheng, had £10,000 bounties put on their heads by ‘anonymous’ users of the Chinese social media app WeChat searching for their whereabouts in Britain.
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