The Irish government has ordered the closure of a Chinese “police station” in the heart of Dublin in response to demand from a human rights organisation.
Earlier this year, the Fuzhou Police Service Overseas Station opened its doors in an office building on Capel Street, which is now pedestrianised and that it shares with other Chinese organisations.The province of Fujian contains the city of Fuzhou.
The station, according to the Chinese government, provided Chinese nationals living in Ireland with services like driving licence renewal.
However, according to a report released in September by the human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders, the stations convince 230,000 exiles to return to China, sometimes to face criminal charges.
The report also said Chinese operations world-wide “eschew official police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity of third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods.”
The Chinese embassy has denied any wrong-doing in Dublin.
On Wednesday, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said no Chinese authority had sought its permission to set up the “police station”.
The department said it had raised the matter with the Chinese authorities and had asked them “to close and cease operations” at the “police” station on Capel Street.
The Chinese government said it had complied with that request.
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