China bars House of Commons delegation as pro-democracy protesters confront police on streets of former colony

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A committee of British MPs has been warned that they will be denied entry to Hong Kong if they try to go ahead with a planned visit to the former British colony.

Sir Richard Ottaway, the chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said he and his fellow committee members had been told by the Chinese embassy they would be turned back if they tried to enter.

The MPs had been planning to visit Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into the colony’s relations with the UK 30 years after the joint declaration that led to the handover to China in 1997.

The move comes amid renewed protests by pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, who have been demanding the right to choose their own leaders without interference from Beijing.

Ottoway accused the Chinese authorities of acting in an “overtly confrontational manner” and said that he would be pressing for an emergency Commons debate.

“I have been informed by the Chinese embassy that if we attempt to travel to Hong Kong we will be refused entry,” he said.

“We are a committee of elected Members of Parliament from a democratic nation who wish to scrutinise British diplomatic work in Hong Kong. The Chinese government are acting in an overtly confrontational manner in refusing us access to do our job. I shall be asking the Speaker tomorrow to grant an emergency debate on the floor of the House.”

The Foreign Office (FCO) said the refusal to allow the committee to visit Hong Hong was “regrettable” and that it had made its view known to the Chinese authorities at “the most senior levels”.

“The Foreign Affairs Select Committee (FAC) is independent of the UK Government and is responsible for determining its own programme of inquiries. However, the Chinese government’s message to the FAC that they will be refused entry into Hong Kong is regrettable,” a spokesman said.

“It is not consistent with the positive trend in UK-China relations over the past year, including the recognition during Premier Li’s visit to London in June that the UK and China have considerable shared interests in respect of Hong Kong.

“Nor is it in the spirit of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, concluded 30 years ago. The FCO has signalled this position to the Chinese at the most senior levels.”

Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters confronted Hong Kong police late on Sunday, stepping up their movement for democratic reforms after being camped out on the city’s streets for more than two months.

Student protest leaders told a large crowd rallying at the main protest site outside government headquarters on Sunday that they would escalate their campaign by surrounding the building.

The crowd tried to push its way down a narrow staircase in an attempt to get to the office of the city’s Beijing-backed leader. Hundreds of protesters charged past police lines, blocking traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down an access road to Leung Chun-Ying’s office.

Police arrested at least five protesters, according to the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups that has played an important role in organising the protest movement, which is seeking free elections in the former British colony.

Many in the crowd were wearing surgical masks, hard hats, goggles and construction-style eye protectors. Some were carrying umbrellas, which have become symbols of the protest movement, and many shouted: “I want true democracy.”

Earlier on Sunday, police warned that they would take action to prevent the protesters from surrounding government headquarters.

They said in a statement that they would “take resolute enforcement actions” and would “use minimum level of force to stop any violent and illegal acts, so as to uphold law and order”.

Authorities last week cleared away the protest camp in Hong Kong’s crowded Mong Kok district, one of three protest zones around the semi-autonomous city.

The protesters are demanding that the Hong Kong government scrap a plan by China’s Communist leaders to use a panel of Beijing-friendly elites to screen candidates for Hong Kong’s leader in inaugural 2017 elections.