The UK has accused Chinese police and security forces of manhandling foreign journalists and diplomats outside the courthouse of a free speech trial in Beijing last Monday.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has said Chinese law enforcement and security personnel shoved reporters, foreign diplomats and protesters away from the Beijing courthouse where civil rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang is being tried for "inciting ethnic hatred" and "disturbing public order". 

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The British press alledges that one journalist was thrown to the ground while others were pushed and punched by both uniformed Beijing police officers and plainclothes agents. Female news correspondents claim they were verbally abused by the same officers.  

Senior US diplomat Dan Briers also figured in the fracas.  

Tom Philips, a correspondent for the British news publication The Guardian, caught the incident on videotape.  In a short clip made available to the public, Briers is seen reading a statement to members of the press. The US diplomat is jostled out of the frame when police officers begin to drive the group away from the courthouse. 

UK foreign minister Hugo Swire is said to have expressed dismay over the incident when he met with Chen Fenxiang, a senior Communist party official, in London last Wednesday. 

In a statement issued after the meeting, the FCO said the British government condemns the "physical mistreatment of British diplomats and journalists at the hands of Chinese security services" during the trial, adding that the behavior of the officers was "completely unacceptable."

The FCO goes on to criticize how authorities in Beijing had reportedly refused to allow reporters and diplomats access to the open trial of Pu, implying that Beijing's judiciary is being less than forthright about the proceedings. 

"The fact that they were refused access raises questions about due process and judicial transparency," the statement said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei rejected the FCO's assertions outright. 

Speaking to reporters the day after the FCO issued the statement, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the people outside the courthouse should have complied with the requirements of the security officers.   

"The relevant people outside the court should have cooperated with the relevant requirements from China's public security agencies," said Hong, who also dismissed the FCO's insinuations about the fairness of Pu's trial.

"This is even more wrong," he told the press.  "Foreign governments have no right to interfere in China's judicial sovereignty."

The FCO statement represents a rare break from UK government's usual policy on China under Prime Minister David Cameron.  Downing Street has in the past been ridiculed by the British press for going out of its way to maintain cordial relations with China, reportedly to win the favor of Beijing's highest ranking officials.

TagsUK, Foreign Ministry, diplomacy, Pu Zhiqiang, Downing Street, Chinese police, police officers, Human Rights, david cameron