UK foreign minister says incident at Chinese consulate ‘unacceptable’

"That was unacceptable," James Cleverly said of the incident, adding the protests had been peaceful and legal.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Wednesday an incident where a protester was seen being pulled into the grounds of a Chinese consulate and beaten was "unacceptable".

Several protest banners had earlier been placed outside the consulate.

The incident, which occurred in Manchester, northern England, during a demonstration against Chinese President Xi Jinping, led to Britain summoning China's Charge d'Affaires in London on Tuesday to explain what had happened.

"That was unacceptable," Cleverly said of the incident, adding the protests had been peaceful and legal.