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Five Tibet activists arrested as Wen arrives in London

AFP

A Free Tibet protester runs past a police cordon outside the Chinese Embassy shortly after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s arrival in London on 1 February 2009. About 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Embassy while police arrested five protesters were arrested after they tried to charge towards Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s motorcade.AFP/Getty images/Adrian Dennis/UK

Five pro-Tibet protesters were arrested on Sunday after they tried to charge towards Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s motorcade as he visited the Chinese embassy in London, police said.

A handful of demonstrators were grabbed by police after they leapt over security barriers and tried to run towards the embassy building as Wen arrived.

A police spokesman said five men were arrested for “breaching the peace.”

Wen, on the second day of the final stop of his European tour, was greeted by around 200 noisy pro-Tibet protesters and a rival pro-China demonstration of 100 people facing each other outside the embassy.

A Tibetan protester, Tsering, a 33-year-old charity worker, said: “We want China to free our people from a brutal regime. China has imprisoned and killed thousands. We call on Wen Jiabao to hold direct talks with the Dalai Lama.”

The protesters waved placards saying “Wen Jiabao, Tibetan Blood on Your Hands.”

China accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to seek independence from Chinese rule for his Himalayan homeland.

On the other side of the road, standing in the bitter cold under Chinese flags, a Chinese-born student who wanted to be identified only as Jin, 20, was dismissive of the pro-Tibet protest.

“I think they have been influenced by propaganda. I don’t see how they can really know what is going on in Tibet,” he told AFP.

“I don’t see how they can criticise Wen Jiabao, who is such a good man. He rushed to be at the earthquake scene last year and he wants to do everything to help people escape poverty,” he said, referring to the quake in Sichuan province which left 88,000 people dead or missing.

The Chinese premier was due to give a speech at the Natural History Museum in London later Sunday.

He met British opposition leader David Cameron earlier Sunday and is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.

Wen started his European trip in Switzerland, where he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, also visiting Berlin, Brussels and Madrid before London.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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