Court: Police confiscation of Tibetan and Taiwanese flags during Xi visit unlawful

Prague’s Municipal Court has ruled that a police intervention in which officers removed a Tibetan and a Taiwanese flag from two men during a visit to the city by the Chinese president was unlawful. The two had taken the case against the police force. In a binding verdict, the court ruled on Tuesday that the police had only been justified in checking the identity documents of the plaintiffs. An internal police review had previously decided that the confiscation of the flags had been legitimate.

The incident took place during a visit to Prague early last year by Xi Jinping. There were clashes between protestors and supporters of the Chinese president while he was in the city and Chinese flags were erected on flagpoles on the road to the airport and near Prague Castle.

Author: Ian Willoughby