A week after a Hong Kong national was assaulted at the Chinese consulate in Manchester, England, hundreds in the UK gathered in separate local protests to denounce China and demand freedom for Hong Kong.
The Manchester protest, dubbed ‘Say No to China’, was held in St Peter’s Square around 4pm on Sunday. Manchester Evening News mentioned. The event began with the playing of “God Save the King” outside the Central Library, followed by the playing of “Glory to Hong Kong”.
Over the next two hours, several speakers came forward to express their support for Hong Kong’s independence from China. Attendees reportedly carried placards with phrases such as “Expel China”, “Free Hong Kong” and even “Hang Xi Jinping”.
Similar signs appeared during the protest outside the Chinese Consulate on Denison Road in Rusholme in Manchester last week. the demonstration led to a violent quarrel Which witnessed a number of masked protesters dragging a demonstrator by the hair and beating him on the grounds of the consulate.
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“Let me say it again so I’m clear: I was dragged into the consulate. I didn’t try to enter the consulate,” Bob Chan, a Hong Kong pro-independence protester who was assaulted, He said At a press conference in the British Parliament on Wednesday. “I stuck to the gates where I was kicked and punched, and I couldn’t hold out for long. I was eventually dragged into the Consulate grounds.”
Last week, Consul General Zheng Xiyuan, a top Chinese diplomat in Manchester, admitted to pulling Chan by his hair, but He claimed his actions were a call for “duty.” He also alleged that Chan “refused to let go” of one of the employees and thus “sinked into the property himself”.
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Similar protests took place on Sunday in other places in the UK, including LondonAnd the Nottingham And the reading. Videos Spread On Twitter show London battling a rainstorm To reach the Chinese embassy in their city and deliver their message.
Meanwhile, some protesters were reported to have expressed gratitude to Greater Manchester Police, who have been praised since Chan was pulled away from the Chinese consulate grounds. The force continues to investigate the incident.
“Let me make it clear that if the police determine that there are grounds to charge an official, we would expect the Chinese Consulate to lift the immunity of those officials,” Secretary of State Jesse Norman said. He said Thursday. “If they don’t, diplomatic consequences will follow.”
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