Campaigners, Lawmakers Force Police to Admit Concerns about Chinese Mega Embassy Development in London
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28 April 2025
Following two major protests, dozens of lawmaker letters and several high level meetings, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have made clear their concerns about the ability of Royal Mint Court, the site of the proposed new Chinese embassy, to accommodate protest safely. The Guardian.
In a letter to Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP and others, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jon Savell said:
The MPS maintains concerns that assembly/protest of numbers greater than 500 will likely impede road surface transport. The road junction layout adjacent to Royal Mint Court will therefore require additional police resource for larger assemblies to balance the safety of those who wish to assemble/protest and the safe free-flow of traffic, as has been borne out from the two recent large scale protests on both 08/02/25 and 15/3/25 where numbers were in the region of 3,000 to 5,000 attendees.
DAC Savell further acknowledged a history of significant protest activity relating to China across London which had been excluded from previous police data. Data had only taken into account the small numbers gathering outside the existing Chinese embassy in Portland Place. The Chinese embassy cited the Portland Place statistics as evidence that protest sizes were likely to be small and easily accommodated at Royal Mint Court. This had angered campaigners who had moved several larger protests between 2021-24 at the request of the MPS.
Blair McDougall MP said:
The Met’s assessment is clear: there is inadequate space for protest outside the Royal Mint Court, where not only would protester safety be jeopardised, but gatherings would require significant policing resources and lead to major road disruption. As long as the right to protest is non-negotiable, the Embassy must be in a location where that right can be safely upheld.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP said:
We will now write to the Police to ask them to make their concerns known to the Secretary of State. If the national security and interference arguments aren’t enough, then perhaps the fact that Tower Bridge junction will be regularly shut down and officers drafted in from all over London to ensure safety will help the government to do the right thing and refuse this application.
Luke de Pulford, Executive Director of IPAC, said:
A huge amount of public money has already been wasted policing large protests at the site. It isn’t safe, and there isn’t space. Large protests will continue until permission for this wrong-headed embassy is denied. It shouldn’t have taken MPs, residents and thousands of campaigners to turn up for the police to admit the obvious, but I’m glad they have.
ENDS
NOTES:
- In 2020 IPAC was founded by leading politicians from 8 democracies. Around 290 politicians from 41 parliaments now make up the alliance.
- IPAC unites politicians worldwide, promoting democracy and addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China.
- For media enquiries, please contact: press@allianceonchina.org
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【中使館選址爭議】議員及民間運動施壓 倫敦警方終承認對示威安全憂慮
在經歷兩場大型示威、數十封議員聯署信件及多場高層會議後，大都會警察局（MPS）終於公開表示，對擬建於皇家鑄幣廠（Royal Mint Court）的中國新大使館能否安全容納示威活動存在嚴重憂慮。英國衛報。
在致 Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP 及其他人士的信件中，大都會警察局副助理局長 Jon Savell 指出：
大都會警察局仍然擔心，若集會或示威人數超過500人，將有可能阻礙地面交通流動。鑑於皇家鑄幣廠附近路口的設計布局，如遇大型集會，將需額外調動警力，以兼顧示威者集會權利及道路暢通安全。2月8日及3月15日兩場大型示威活動，參加人數介乎3000至5000人，已充分證明此問題的存在。
助理局長Savell亦承認，警方以往有關中國議題的示威數據不完整，只參考了中國大使館在Portland Place現址外小規模集會的人數，而忽略了過去倫敦其他地區多次大規模有關中國議題示威的紀錄。中方亦以 Portland Place 的數字作為證據，聲稱未來於皇家鑄幣廠舉行的示威將規模有限，足以應付。惟事實上，2021年至2024年間，警方曾要求多場大規模中國議題示威另作遷移，令一眾示威人士深感不滿。
IPAC 英國成員 Blair McDougall MP 表示：
大都會警察局的評估清晰指出皇家鑄幣廠外空間根本不足以安全容納示威。不僅示威者安全受威脅，集會還需投入大量警力，並嚴重影響道路交通。示威自由不容妥協，大使館必須設於一個可以安全維護該權利的地點。
IPAC 英國聯席主席 Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP 指出：
我們將致函警方，要求他們正式向內政大臣反映有關憂慮。假若有關國家安全及滲透活動的理由仍不足以令政府駁回申請，那麼相信倫敦塔橋路口（Tower Bridge Junction）經常需要封閉、全倫敦需調派警力應對的事實，將足以促使政府作出正確決定，拒絕此項申請。
IPAC 行政總裁 Luke de Pulford 亦表示：
警方早已花費大量公帑處理該地點的示威活動。現場面積不足，亦無法保障示威者安全。只要申請未被否決，大型抗議將會持續。雖然警方需要議員、居民及數以千計的請願者親身到場施壓，才能後知後覺承認問題，但我仍感欣慰他們終於說出了事實。
完
附註：
- 可引用以上引言，請標明兩位立法者的 IPAC 職銜。
- 2020 年，IPAC 由來自 8 個民主議會的資深議員共同創立。目前 IPAC 已擴展至 41 個議會，由約 290名議員組成。
- IPAC團結各國議員，推動民主、以應對中國崛起對基於規則的國際秩序及人權體系的威脅。
- 媒體查詢請聯絡 press@allianceonchina.org
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