A Chinese “police station” in Dublin’s city centre has been ordered to close following pressure from a human rights group.
The Fuzhou Police Service Overseas Station was opened this year on pedestrianised Capel Street in a collaborative office of Chinese organisations.
Human rights group Safeguard Defenders said last month that the stations persuade 230,000 emigrants 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.”
On Wednesday, the 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.
