United Kingdom accused of doing China’s bidding over arrest of Tiananmen Square survivor

Tiananmen Square survivor Shao Jiang is well aware of past human rights abuses in his home country – but now campaigners say he has fallen victim to the system here in Britain.

Officers were filmed arresting Shao Jiang outside Mansion House in central London, on Wednesday before President Xi’s arrival.

Police arrested him while trying to block a motorcade and waving banners which said “End autocracy” and “Democracy now”.

“Reading the papers this morning I was disappointed to see a view by a few that the Metropolitan Police Service were working to the bidding of the Chinese to suppress protest”, said Commander Lucy D’Orsi in an unusually forthright police response to allegations demonstrations had been quelled. “They were Amnesty global signs calling for the Chinese to end the crackdown”, she said. After his arrest this week, his home was searched by British police, his wife told The Independent, and his computer was confiscated.

The two women, named Jamphel and Sonam, both Tibetans from London, attempted to wave a Tibetan flag at the President’s motorcade and were both forcefully taken away by police. The three were initially arrested to prevent a breach of the peace he said but were later rearrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit threatening behaviour.

In order to show independence from Chinese political whims, British authorities should immediately commit to a public review of the decisions leading to the detentions [and make clear that all public authorities will respect everyone in the UK’s right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly no matter who they are protesting against].

“It is deeply worrying that the UK Government appears keen to push human rights to one side in pursuit of trade”. According to one eyewitness, the police at first assured the two they weren’t being arrested but then an order countermanding that came and both were arrested.

London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “We facilitate peaceful protests… but we will also investigate possible criminality that could put the safety of London at risk”.

“The police need to urgently explain to Shao Jiang why they entered his property and took his possessions”, he said.

Carole Beavis claim she was “singled out by three official-looking Chinese men, who effectively herded me away from the event, lowered my arm holding the camera”.

Shao witnessed Chinese soldiers shooting demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and was arrested a few months later.

He was also arrested in 1995 before coming to the United Kingdom in 2003.

“He was a student at Beijing university and helped draft the demands of the Tiananmen Square protests”, Passang told IBTimes UK.

He was arrested three months after the Tiananmen massacre and spent 18 months in a string of overcrowded jails where he was questioned for up to 16 hours a day.

The Met Police confirmed Shao had been detained along with the two pro-Tibet activists.

“We combine the universal value of human rights with China’s reality, and we have found a path of human rights development suited to China’s national conditions”, he said.