Hundreds protest in London against Beijing ‘mega embassy’

LONDON: Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns.

The new embassy — if approved by the UK government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe”, one lawmaker said earlier.

Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, told AFP said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents”.

China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the shadow of the Tower of London.

The move has sparked fierce opposition from nearby residents, rights groups, critics of China’s ruling Communist Party and others.

“This is about the future of our freedom, not just the site of a Chinese embassy in London,” Conservative Party lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told AFP at the protest, adding that people living in the UK “sadly have been too often been threatened by Chinese state agents”.

“I think it would be a threat to all of us because we would see an increase in economic espionage… and an increase in the silencing of opponents of the Chinese Communist Party (in the UK),” the former security minister added.

Housing the Royal Mint — the official maker of British coins — for nearly two centuries, the site was earlier home to a 1348-built Cistercian abbey but is currently derelict.

Beijing bought it for a reported $327 million in 2018.