A report from the Tibet Commission in Denmark directs harsh criticism at several authorities who have influenced Copenhagen’s Police’s crime against China-critical protesters, DR News writes.
In the report, the Tibet Commission, which is a government-appointed commission, criticizes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) for putting pressure on the Copenhagen police to violate the Danish Constitution by giving in to Chinese pressure and barring anti-China demonstrations.
The commission has examined the roles of several authorities in connection with a large number of state visits from China between 1995 and 2013, and chiefly into the events around then-President Hu Jintao’s official visit to Copenhagen in 2012.
Regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Commission writes that the Ministry was “very accommodating to the Chinese wishes that visible anti-Chinese demonstrations and expressions of opinion should be avoided during official visits from China, and was willing to go to great lengths to preserve the good” relation. “
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs passed on the Chinese wishes to PET and in some cases directly to the Copenhagen Police.
The Commission concludes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actually put considerable pressure on PET and the Copenhagen Police to meet the Chinese wishes and in some cases actively contributed to this happening.
In addition, the commission writes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ handling of Chinese visits to Denmark has generally been characterized by an “administrative culture in which the consideration of avoiding offending Chinese guests was placed above the Danish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.”
PET is also being criticized by the Tibet Commission and according to the report, PET conveyed the Chinese concerns from 1995 and up to Chinese Parliament Speaker Yu Zhengsheng’s visit in 2013.
Amongst other things, the report states that PET “made recommendations regarding the actions of the Copenhagen Police by repeatedly passing on the Chinese wishes to avoid being confronted with anti-Chinese demonstrations, etc.” Incidents included demonstrators being hidden behind police vehicles and therefore not visible to a passing Chinese delegation in 2012. The police also snapped Tibetan flags from the hands of protesters shortly before a delegation from China drove by.
Speaking on the report, Denmark’s Minister of Justice, Nick Hækkerup whose office had ordered the report, said it was “completely unacceptable that freedom of speech and assembly have been trampled on in connection with official Chinese visits.”
What terrible news. Why is the government doing this? There are so many horrible things happening in the world, and they continue to be silent about it.