China’s embassy guards in London have been accused of brandishing electroshock weapons at protesters to intimidate them.
The UK and China are now embroiled in a diplomatic row over the incident, which is also being investigated by police.
UK Government officials warned Beijing that attempts by a foreign state to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm” individuals on UK soil will not be tolerated, The i Paper has been told.
Security workers allegedly pointed the weapons towards protesters during heightened tensions outside the Chinese Embassy in Portland Place on 3 July.
UK officials have raised the matter directly with the embassy, a Government source said, while a Metropolitan Police investigation remains ongoing.
“Any attempts by a foreign state to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm individuals on UK soil will never be tolerated,” the source added.
The diplomatic row is likely to raise fresh questions over China’s conduct and its alleged attempts to silence dissidents on British soil.
While ministers will await the outcome of the police investigation, the insider said: “Where there is evidence of a crime, we will not hesitate to act.”
Scotland Yard confirmed to this newspaper that enquiries into the alleged incident were ongoing, with officers reviewing video footage from the protest.
The i Paper has seen footage which appears to show two embassy workers waving what look like stun batons towards protesters who are approaching the embassy gates.
Campaigners allege that embassy security personnel pointed electroshock weapons at them when tensions boiled over during a candlelit vigil for Lobga Rangzen, a Tibetan activist who died after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Rangzen was a prominent Tibetan independence activist who campaigned against what he described as China’s repression of Tibet.
Electroshock weapons are classified as prohibited under Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “On Friday, 3 July at around 6pm, police were called to reports of a protest outside the Chinese Embassy on Portland Place, W1B.
“Officers attended the scene. Two protesters alleged that embassy staff had pointed a taser towards them. No injuries were reported and officers left the area once the protestors had dispersed on their own accord.”
No arrests have been made.
The force added: “The investigation continues as officers review evidence, including video footage supplied by witnesses.”
Although the police statement refers to a “taser”, witnesses said the embassy guards appeared to be brandishing stun batons.
The investigation comes as nearly 20 human rights organisations, including Free Tibet, Hong Kong Watch and Stop Uyghur Genocide, wrote to the Prime Minister last week calling on the Government to seek a waiver of diplomatic immunity from the Chinese Embassy so that the police investigation “may proceed unobstructed”.
According to the letter seen by The i Paper, the organisations argue that every plausible route by which prohibited weapons could have entered the embassy – whether through a diplomatic baggage that is exempt from customs searches or through a purchase within the UK – would raise questions of potentially unlawful conduct.
They also question what assurance the public can have “that nothing else prohibited under UK law is held there”.
The letter points to violence against a protester at the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester in 2022 as an earlier example of the difficulties faced by British authorities when allegations involve diplomatic personnel.
The Manchester confrontation took place during a demonstration against the Chinese government and was filmed by those at the scene. A protester was pulled through the consulate gates and into the grounds, where he was beaten, as other demonstrators attempted to intervene.
The Foreign Office summoned China’s most senior representative and demanded an explanation. Six Chinese diplomats subsequently left the UK after the Government requested that they be made available for questioning, meaning no charges were brought.
The episode became a test of how far diplomatic immunity could frustrate a UK police investigation.
Luke de Pulford, the founder and executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “Again, China shows shocking contempt for our laws. Carrying stun sticks is illegal in the UK, but Chinese Communist Party (CCP) guards have them. The video footage is unequivocal.”
He warned that the police would struggle to exercise their powers because the embassy site is inviolable land, meaning authorities cannot enter without the ambassador’s permission.
“Those responsible must be prosecuted immediately, or named persona non grata and expelled,” de Pulford said.
The row over the Portland Place incident comes weeks after the High Court dismissed a separate legal challenge brought by residents of Royal Mint Court against the granting of planning permission for China’s vast new embassy near the Tower of London.
In a ruling handed down on 31 July, Lord Justice Dingemans and Mrs Justice Lieven found that the housing secretary under the Starmer government had lawfully considered national security and other risks in approving the scheme in January.
The Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association, whose case argued that blacked-out rooms in the approved plans and the site’s inaccessibility to emergency services under diplomatic inviolability posed an unmanageable fire risk, is expected to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal.
Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister and Conservative MP, said: “The Government claims that China will obey planning rules for their new mega-embassy but even their guards aren’t obeying our laws, they’re carrying illegal weapons.”
The Chinese Embassy were approached for comment.
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