Shao Jiang: Protester says UK now as bad as China over human rights

'We know that during this state visit the UK has been ignoring human rights in China - now it is ignoring human rights violations in the UK as well'

Tiananmen Square massacre survivor Shao Jiang holds a sign as a group gathers in Trafalgar Square (AFP)

Shao Jiang and his wife has spent the day struggling to come to terms with the events of the past 48 hours, haunted by dark memories. His heavy-handed arrest and search of their house was a shock, but the events were also familiar.

The couple fled China after repeated arrests, searches of their home and harassment of their family. Now they are a regular fixture on the London Chinese dissident scene, where they had thought that they would be guaranteed freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest. “I was protesting peacefully,” he told The Independent. “And when I was arrested I couldn’t believe that this country was no longer protecting freedom of expression. It’s just like China now.”

Mr Jiang knew he was likely to be arrested for attempting to disrupt the Chinese leader’s visit. What he didn’t expect was the force used to detain him – and that he would subsequently be re-arrested for abusive behaviour against President Xi Jingping, and that his home would be searched in the middle of the night. His computers were also seized.

“My arrest has brought back memories of my arrests in 1989 when my parents were harassed, and in 1995 when my wife became repressed by the government and they searched our home,” he said. “It feels like it is happening again, but unlike campaigners in China I have been able to speak to a lawyer who can defend my rights. That couldn’t happen in China, my lawyer would be arrested or ‘disappeared’.”

His wife, Johanna Zhang, said the couple were more “positive” now after taking legal advice and again rejected suggestions he was planning to threaten anybody. “He was protesting peacefully,” she said. “I am so nervous when the door knocks now, my first reaction is that it is the police.”

Mr Jiang, who spent the day at home speaking to his legal team, said he hoped his arrest would help to raise the profile of the “fight for human rights in China”. He said: “Today I have been thinking about those 30 ‘disappeared’ lawyers and human rights campaigners in China. We know that during this state visit the UK has been ignoring human rights in China. Now it is ignoring human rights violations in the UK as well.”