China’s president, Xi Jinping, has received a rapturous reception in London from thousands of Chinese nationals, a significant number of them carrying giant flags and banners that appear to have been distributed by the country’s embassy.



Many of those present on the Mall to cheer Xi as he headed to Buckingham Palace with the Queen at the start of his state visit insisted they had bought or even made their own flags, banners and “I heart China” T-shirts.

However, cardboard boxes containing the giant banners and metal poles to hold them, had labels showing they were part of a four-tonne consignment of goods transported by China Southern airlines.

Another box from which flags were being distributed was marked with tape identifying it as a diplomatic bag and a postal label for the Chinese embassy in central London.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A box carrying Chinese flags with a label indicating it was sent as a diplomatic bag. Photograph: Peter Walker/The Guardian

Many among the huge and largely good-natured crowd cheering Xi nonetheless insisted the banners were their own work. A young student told the Guardian he had printed his banner in London. Asked why it was so similar to those held by many others he replied, grinning: “We must have all gone to the same print shop.”

Before Xi arrived, the Mall was almost entirely lined by such flags and placards, with the crowd, many of them students, up to five or six deep near the palace.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Label on a box of flags sent from China to the Chinese embassy in London. Photograph: Peter Walker/The Guardian

In contrast, a demonstration by human rights groups attracted only a few hundred people, penned into a small section of barriers midway along the road, with three lines of police and fences between them and the ceremonial coach carrying Xi.

The protesters included members of the spiritual group Falun Gong, banned as a “cult” inside China in 1999 and brutally repressed since, as well as Tibetans waving placards about their country’s long occupation by China.

Pro-China groups had been told they could not use drums to try to drown out rights activists. While they did not do this as Xi went past, for much of the rest of the morning the rights protesters were surrounded by a cacophony of noise from drummers.

Similarly, when a group of rights activists organised by Amnesty International posed for photographs near the Mall, a small group of Chinese students stood in front of them carrying large flags, blocking the view.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The crowd, including many students, drown out a smaller group of human rights protesters. Photograph: Yui Mok/AFP/Getty Images

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said the group was worried that David Cameron appeared unlikely to raise human rights to a significant issue, despite China’s huge programme of executions and recent acts such as the mass arrest of many human rights lawyers.

“It is unacceptable to be meeting the Chinese president and not be talking about human rights,” she said. “Everything we’ve heard about this visit is that human rights is not on the agenda.



“The idea that these issues would not be raised is just quite shocking. We do need to see our prime minister raise these issues with the president of China. It’s important for those who think human rights are important to make our views clear. There are serious concerns about not discussing human rights, and what that will say about the British government.”

Few Chinese protesters wanted to talk about politics, even those engaged in blocking the view to the rights activists. “They are wrong and we are right,” one said, declining to be named. “They don’t know Chinese history,” said another.

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Not all the crowd welcoming Xi were students. Some held banners from Chinese restaurant associations and other trade groups. Michael Han, 36, from Vancouver, had come with his new bride, Sherry. “We’re on honeymoon,” he said. “We didn’t even know it was happening – it’s just coincidence. But we’re happy to see the president.”

As Xi and the royals went past, activists from the Free Tibet campaign shouted slogans and waved flags, audible above the cheers of the crowd.



Among them was Dorjeet Tseting, born in India to Tibetan refugee parents, who still has half-brothers in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. “It’s a really bad situation in Tibet, and it’s getting worse,” he said. “But the outside world doesn’t know much about this. It’s a very restricted place.”

His relatives said: “There are no human rights. If they try to speak about Tibet they will be in trouble. If they get into a fight they will go to prison and come out. If they talk about freedom they will be in prison most of their life.”