Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to help protect people from Hong Kong who want to protest near the Chinese (a) Embassy and (b) Consulate in advance of the national security trial of Jimmy Lai in December 2023.

Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights set out that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, assembly and association. This government will always fully support these rights, including the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest.

It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather together and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law.

The management of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police. In certain circumstances, the police have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect those who want to exercise their rights peacefully.