Several men who appeared to work for the Chinese government attacked an activist protesting against China’s ruling Communist Party at the Chinese consulate in Manchester on Sunday, when China began a key political meeting expected to hand the country’s strongman leader Xi Jinping an unprecedented third term.
A video captured by BBC shows a group of unidentified men, some wearing helmets, approaching demonstrators outside the mission and seizing a large artwork that depicted Xi as an emperor without clothes on.
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Other clips circulating online also show a man, whom demonstrators and human rights campaigners believe to be the Chinese consul-general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, kicking and tearing down a banner denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and standing by the consulate’s gate during the altercation.
At one point, the unidentified men dragged a protester inside the consulate’s gates and punched him repeatedly. At least eight men, including four who joined in the attack, entered the consulate building afterward, according to the BBC.
The assault could deal another blow to the reputation of China in the UK, which is set to designate the world’s second-largest economy as a threat in a major shift of policy. Several members of parliament have called on the government to investigate and throw out any Chinese official if they are found to have attacked the protesters.
“The Chinese Communist Party will not import their beating of protestors and denial of free speech to British streets,” Alicia Kearns, a chair of the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said in a tweet.
“The Consul General had full sight, and quite possibly was involved, in the assaults,” Kearns said, citing a photo of the clash.
A handful of UK police officers at the scene attempted to break up the fight. One entered consulate grounds and tried to pull the protester back out. Under international law, security forces cannot enter an embassy without consent.
“After I was pulled in, I was punched and kicked. I got cuts on my face, which bled and swelled up. I also got hair pulled from my head,” the assaulted protester, named Bob, told Voice of America, calling the attack “scary.” Bob, who originates from Hong Kong and has campaigned for democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, also vowed to continue speaking out against the Chinese regime.
A spokesperson for the Chinese consulate in Manchester told the BBC the mission condemned the protesters for hanging the “insulting portrait” of the Chinese president at its main entrance but did not comment on the attack or the apparent involvement of Zheng, the consul-general.
A staff member of the consulate reached by VICE World News declined to comment on whether Zheng was at the scene.
A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Police said officers “responded immediately to diffuse the situation” and the authorities were investigating the incident.
It is not the first time Chinese embassies attempted to disrupt anti-Beijing protests on foreign soil.
“There is a wider pattern of embassies taking roles in intimidating or acting against protesters from Hong Kong, Tibet, and during major visits. But they normally aren’t quite as blatant. This was exceptionally visible,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who studies China’s growing influence in his upcoming book, “No Limits: The Inside Story of China’s War with the West.”
Such behavior on China’s part is becoming increasingly normalized, he added. In 2019, for instance, the Chinese embassy was accused by the Lithuanian government of directing pro-Beijing hecklers to harass demonstrators supporting democracy in Hong Kong. In 2020, two Chinese officials stormed a Taiwanese reception in Fiji and got into a brawl with Taiwanese diplomats, sending one to hospital with a head injury.
“They have been protested by the governments involved but it doesn’t seem to have come at a significant cost. Certainly the general sense would be that they feel they can get away with it,” Small told VICE World News.
It is a sensitive time for China, which kicked off its twice-a-decade party congress on Sunday and is expected to unveil its new leadership—and Xi Jinping yet again as party chief—by the end of the meeting. To pave the way for the weeklong conclave, Beijing has ramped up censorship by locking up dissidents and blocking online posts it deems negative or critical.
