Washington, May 01: Three Houston police officers have been confined to desk duty after beating a Chinese diplomat in the parking garage of the Chinese Consulate.
Houston’s mayor, Annise Parker, said the guilty officers’ responsibilities would be limited till it is clear as to why they arrested and beat Chinese diplomat Yu Boren last Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the police harassed and beat the deputy consul-general when he drove into the consulate.
The Chinese ministry said that one of the diplomat’s family members was also involved.
“China urges the US … to quickly investigate the details of this incident and to look into the persons responsible to ensure that the Chinese diplomatic and consulate personnel and premises are not violated,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.
According to international law, foreign embassies and consulates are not within the jurisdiction of local law enforcement officials. Diplomats also have legal immunity.
Houston’s mayor said the officers were not aware that they had entered the Consulate grounds.
The mayor also pointed out that following the incident, the Houston police had distributed a list of addresses to its officers for every consulate in the city.
–Agencies