China blames ‘disturbing elements’ in UK incident

Representational images. Pic/iStock

China on Tuesday accused "disturbing elements" of illegally entering its consulate in Manchester, following an incident on Sunday in which a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was seen being pulled into the mission's grounds and beaten up.

British police are investigating the incident, which occurred during a demonstration against Chinese President Xi Jinping. Officers entered the consulate grounds to rescue a man who they said "was dragged" inside and assaulted by several men.

Also Read: China imposes lockdowns as Covid-19 surges after holiday

The protest, involving 30-40 people including Hongkongers now resident in Britain, took place at the start of a twice-a-decade congress of China's ruling Communist Party in Beijing at which Xi is widely expected to win a third leadership term.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin commented on the incident during a regular news conference in Beijing. Disturbing elements illegally entered the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester and endangered the security of Chinese diplomatic premises," he said in response to a question.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever