Protester Beaten After Displaying 'Insulting' Xi Jinping Picture in Britain

A Hong Kong pro-democracy protester in Manchester, Britain, said he was dragged into the Chinese consulate and beaten after showing an "insulting" photo of President Xi Jinping outside the embassy grounds.

Sunday's protest coincided with the Communist Party Congress, a week-long meeting where Beijing is expected to hand Xi another five-year term running China, making him the country's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

In Manchester at around 3 p.m. on Sunday, unidentified men came out of the consulate and forced the man, along with three other Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, inside the compound.

The men later escaped with help of police and other protesters. Police are forbidden to enter consular grounds without permission.

The man, named as Bob to protect his identity, told the BBC: "They dragged me inside, they beat me up."

Bob came to Britain in March last year and was one of a small group of pro-democracy campaigners who had gathered outside the Chinese embassy.

A spokesperson for the consulate claimed protesters had "hung an insulting portrait of the Chinese president at the main entrance."

Footage circulating on social media appears to show a picture portraying Xi as a king looking into a mirror but the mirror image of him is wearing a t-shirt saying "represent 1.4 billion Chinese people." The real image of Xi shows him not wearing that t-shirt—instead, it appears to shows him holding a Taiwanese flag and having a blood-stained Ukraine flag under his arm.

Protesters said they had checked with police that it was okay to display the image on a public footpath. The consulate, however, wanted the image taken down, and protesters resisted attempts to of its security staff to take it down.

Bob told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that he was beaten by about five men in the consulate.

He told West Australia Today that he felt "empty" and had bruises across his arms, back, face and neck. He said he had been bleeding from wounds to the face from the alleged assault, and was in hospital to have them treated.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers were present and responded immediately to defuse the situation.

"Enquiries are ongoing at this time to understand the full circumstances.

"A police patrol plan is in place in the area following this incident."

Newsweek has contacted the Chinese consulate in Manchester for comment.

Iain Duncan Smith, a lawmaker who was formerly leader of the Conservative party, told The Telegraph that the embassy must issue a "full apology" for the incident and those who were involved in the alleged violence must be expelled from Britain.

"I will certainly raise this in the House. It's very simple: that is unacceptable, those individuals need to be sent home and there needs to be a full and unabashed apology from the Chinese ambassador because it's absolutely appalling," Duncan Smith said.

Commenting on why the police appeared to be slow to intervene, Duncan Smith said: "I guess that like everything else the police are endlessly conflicted and are probably worried about a diplomatic incident. But this is on British soil, for God's sake."

Local business groups also condemned the alleged maltreatment of the protester.

A statement from a local business group, the Trafford Hongkongers CIC, said it viewed the event with "deep concern."

"We can see from the video clip that a Chinese Consulate staff member is trying to destroy private properties of the peaceful Hongkonger protesters.

"What's more? We see from the video clip that Hongkongers were kidnapped into the Chinese Consulate areas by members of Chinese Consulate staff.

"We believe Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and our Foreign Secretary James Cleverly MP must inquire with the Chinese Consulate why it could happen in Manchester today.

"Any brute force and violence to peaceful protesters are not tolerable.

"Our thoughts are with those Hongkonger protesters in Manchester."