China calls on France to protect its citizens after killing

BEIJING, China – China on Tuesday, March 28, urged France to protect the safety and rights of its citizens after police in Paris killed a Chinese national, sparking a violent protest.

French police arrested 35 people after a demonstration late Monday by the capital’s Asian community over the killing turned violent.

China calls on Paris to “guarantee the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens in France and to treat the reaction of Chinese people to this incident in a rational way,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing, adding that the government had filed an official complaint over the events.

After learning of the incident, China “immediately ordered its embassy in France to activate an emergency response mechanism (and) made representations with the French side, asking them to get to the bottom of the incident,” she said.

“Meanwhile, we hope that our citizens… in France can express their wishes and demands in a lawful and reasonable way.”

Paris police said around 150 “members of the Asian community” gathered late Monday outside a police station in the northeast of the capital.

Three officers were slightly injured in the running clashes and one police vehicle was damaged by an incendiary device.

The angry demonstrators were protesting against police violence after an officer shot dead a Chinese man on Sunday night.

Police sources told the Agence France-Presse officers were called to the man’s house after reports of a domestic dispute. An officer shot the man after being attacked with a knife, according to the official account.

The family, however, disputes this version of the incident, saying there was no domestic dispute and the man was shot without warning after a neighbor called the police about shouting. – Rappler.com