BRITAIN'S main opposition Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch on January 17, 2026, to demonstrate against a proposal to move China’s embassy to this site, a stones-throw from The Tower of London. Photo courtesy of AFP
WORLD

Demonstrators oppose ‘mega embassy’

Agence France-Presse

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Hundreds of people on Saturday rallied in London against Beijing’s controversial new “mega” embassy, days ahead of a decision on the plan.

Protesters, their faces mostly covered with scarves or masks, chanted “No to Chinese embassy” and waved flags reading “Free Hong Kong. Revolution now.”

Others held up placards with slogans such as “MI5 warned. Labor kneeled,” referring to the UK’s domestic intelligence agency and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ruling party.

Others read: “CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is watching you. Stop the mega embassy.”

China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the shadow of the Tower of London.