Around 6pm London time, a video was posted on Twitter with the text:
Shocking video spreading on HK Telegram channels showing someone from the PRC Consulate in Manchester kicking down pro-democracy signs.
A protestor then appears to have been dragged behind the Consulate gates and beaten by consulate staff.
Multiple people believe that the man kicking down the banner could be Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan.
Shortly after, more videos surfaced with even more details on how the UK police pulled out a man from within the consulate. And with photos like this:
Quickly, BBC and many other media outlets had reports:
Unidentified men came out of the consulate and forced a man inside the compound before he escaped with the help of police and other demonstrators.
The protester told the BBC: “They dragged me inside, they beat me up.”
The UK government called the reports “extremely concerning”. The consulate says protesters displayed an insulting portrait of China’s president.
The Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking clarity on the incident. Greater Manchester Police has launched an investigation.
Speaking after the incident, the protester, called Bob, told BBC Chinese that “mainlanders” - people from mainland China, as opposed to Hong Kong - had come out of the consulate and destroyed their posters.
“As we tried to stop them, they dragged me inside, they beat me up,” he said, adding that he was then pulled out by the UK police.
“It’s ridiculous. They [the attackers] shouldn’t have done that. We are supposed to have freedom to say whatever we want here [in the UK].”
After the incident, the crowd remained angry. Protesters shouted at the men from the consulate and the British police, arguing they could have done more.
It does not take long for people to identify the people involved and called on the Prime Minister (at that time) of UK to act:
The Manchester Chinese consulate assault.
Here are the perps. @trussliz you know what you have to do.
From left to right:
Consul General Zheng Xiyuan
Consul Gao Lianjia
Counsellor Chen Wei
Deputy Consul General Fan Yingjie
According to BBC Chinese,
The Chinese consulate in Manchester told BBC Chinese that the protesters were “a small batch of Hong Kong independence advocates” and that the insulting photos of the supreme leader of a country were unacceptable, for any diplomatic mission. (below)
And the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it was the protester “intruded the consulate illegally”, according to BBC Chinese.
This is, of course refuted by the Greater Manchester Police, who tweeted:
#INCIDENT | We’re investigating an assault following a protest outside the Chinese Consulate in #Manchester yesterday.
A man was dragged into the Consulate grounds & assaulted.
Due to our fears for the safety of the man officers intervened to remove him & prevent further harm.
On October 19th, Beijing reacted:
“Due to lawless elements’ malicious harassment and illegal entry to the Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester, this caused Chinese personnel to be wounded and threatened the security of the Chinese premises,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a routine briefing.
Beijing had already “made representations” to British authorities and urged London to do more to protect Chinese diplomats, he added.
So, China simply doubled down.
While the Chinese consulate in Manchester believe that no one can insult their leader in a foreign country, some people quickly reminded everyone how Chinese government organized mobs to insult the Japanese outside their embassy in Beijing in 2012 (that tweet has many with pictures if you want more visual effect):
- The PRC said hanging insulting posters of Xi Jinping was “unacceptable for any diplomatic and consular missions of any country.” So here’s a🧵of pics from the 2012 protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Here they burn a Japanese flag yards from the Embassy gate.
- I was at the 2012 protests outside the Japan Embassy in Beijing, I saw hundreds, maybe thousands of people take part. Some of the signs in and around the protests were racist, such as this one saying “China should take action and kill the Japanese dogs.”
- Many of the signs carried by protesters at the 2012 protests outside the Japan Embassy in Beijing threatened, in fact demanded, violence against Japanese, such as this one saying “Cut off the heads of the Japanese devils with six cuts.”
- And while the PRC claims protesters holding insulting posters of China’s leader is “unacceptable,” it was perfectly willing to accept protesters in Beijing carrying posters like this outside the Japanese Embassy.
- And by “accept,” I mean “organize and oversee.” These photos show Beijing police escorting protesters in front of the Japanese Embassy. More photos and examples of police telling protesters what they could and could not say here.
Others believe that the action of the Consulate in Manchester is the feature, not a bug. Let’s quote the twitter thread:
Re- Chinese officials drag Hongkongers into the consulate grounds - an unprecedented level of aggression towards overseas activists
The consulate staff knew there would be cameras filming & their behaviours would result in outrage
So why did they do it anyways?This incident is following the fake bomb threats that were fabricated against another known activist.
We can blame it on the tyrannical nature of the party-state, but there needs to be critical analysis to the increasingly aggressive response of Chinese consulate & embassies.
it’s quite simple really: increasing the cost to attend protests around consulate/embassy grounds.
The diplomatic staff is willing to falsely criminalize activists (bomb threat) or resort to violence (beating) - knowing it may damage their reputation or diplomatic status
In the past, activists would “gear up” by wearing masks, hats, unidentifiable clothing, covering up tattoos to attend a protest at the consulate/embassy.
Now, there’s a higher level of risk for activists, which force them to assess whether they can be safe (or feel safe) to go.the heightened aggression affirms fear among the diaspora & activist networks
For many who already felt uncomfortable to attend consulate/embassy protests, the heightened aggression may successfully deter them away from these direct actions.pushing the boundaries on what is (un)acceptable as a foreign mission
The Chinese mission is testing how the host nations of consulate/embassy respond, and whether there will be consequences.
Basically, where is the red line? Would their actions qualify for expulsion?With an uptick of HKers migrating to the UK, it was the perfect timing to test new tactics to deter & threaten overseas activists.
The aggressive response to activists holding direct action is part of the party-state’s work to continue transnational political suppression.I have no doubt these tactics will be deemed as a success internally, and passed onto other embassies and consulates (& other regimes) around the world.
We will need to adapt new safety & security procedures for future direct actions.
Hold on tight folks. 香港人加油
If she is right, this is a strong argument for the UK government to expel those thugs.
According to the Guardian, China has recruited 30 RAF pilots with generous recruitment packages.
Officials expressed “concern and disapproval” of these schemes because they posed “a threat to UK and western interests”. Although they are not explicitly banning pilots from providing training, they aim to take steps to “manage the risk”.
Twitter has memory, people found a video back in April:
Chinese JL-10 crashes in Anhui province. Both pilots ejected and one of them is a foreigner. The Chinese pilot was on the phone and he mentioned that he probably had a leg fracture.
In the video, some one asked who is the foreigner, the Chinese pilot said that he was the trainer. Back in April, many people were puzzled why a white man is training Chinese air force pilots.
Guo Wengui is a well known name for overseas Chinese. New Yorker just published a long report on him:“How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans”. If you have time to read the bizarre life of this Chinese billionaire in exile who is connected with Steve Bannon and plotted with him to steal the 2020 election, it is worth your time (you can also listen to the article in the link, it is about an hour).
(and if the story fascinates you, you can also read what Mother Jones did A Fugitive Chinese Tycoon Met Steve Bannon. Misinformation Mayhem Ensued. and A Fugitive Chinese Mogul Spent Big to Overturn the 2020 Election)
Someone (who is not Captain American nor Chinese) discovered a 5-minute video of a Chinese standup comedian in Australia, Huang He. It is very nice and quickly attracted lots of Chinese on Twitter. You can watch it here, it is in English or on YouTube. You can look at the full AGT audition on YouTube
Not all Chinese reacted to her performance with admiration. She got many insults also. She reacted with the following on Instagram:
I am enjoying all the love from my people. Those comments truly show that we indeed are: have a good sense humour, embrace the love for freedom of speech, and uphold the respect for women and the minorities. Truly blessed by my heritage.#Ihopeyoucanunderstandsatireinenglish
You should also follow her on twitter @hehuangcomedy
