An estimated 300 protestors demanding an end to Chinese rule in Tibet and to political repression throughout China lined the route Hu's horsedrawn procession took to Buckingham Palace, the residence of Queen Elizabeth II.

Under heavy rains, many of the demonstrators waved banners and flags, including those of Tibet.

"Free Tibet" some of them shouted as mounted police and soldiers led the gilded carriage containing the president and the queen, who waved to the crowds.

Supporters of Hu and the Chinese government meanwhile waved their national flag.

Hu, who met Prime Minister Tony Blair in Beijing just two months ago, will spend two days in the British capital before going on to Germany and Spain, demonstrating a renaissance in Sino-European relations.

Blair, who was among the welcoming party, said earlier that his formal talks with Hu on Wednesday would touch on trade, global security, climate change as well as "how economic and political developments are progressing in China."

A Blair spokesman said human rights issues have been raised in the past and would likely come up again.

With Britain holding the rotating EU presidency, political analysts expect Hu to press hard for the lifting of a European arms embargo on China, imposed in 1989 after the snuffing of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

EU leaders initially pledged to remove the ban by June this year, but China's anti-secession law on Taiwan, passed in April, stymied that intention amid concerns of tension escalating across the Taiwan Straits.

Present were activists for the Free Tibet Campaign, the Falun Gong religious movement, the Federation for a Democratic China (FDC), a group representing independent Taiwan and the Uyghur Association UK, which fights for the freedom of this Turkic ethnic group.

"We are determined to make sure he will see us and he will hear us," said Shu Li, head of the British branch of the FDC, some of whose activists took part in the protest.

"Hu wants to at least get the arms embargo to be lifted against China. We're lobbying the British and the European governments not to let him succeed because China's human record has not improved at all," Shu told AFP.

"If anything it is getting worse," he added.

Shu added that members of his federation would protest Hu's visit to Germany and Spain as well.

Blair made it clear that, unlike a 1999 visit by Hu's predecessor Jiang Zemin, police would not block peaceful demonstrators from getting across their message to the Chinese leader.

Alison Reynolds, the director of the Free Tibet Campaign, alleged police used "heavy-handed" tactics in a bid to prevent activists from handing out small Tibetan flags to protestors.

She told AFP earlier that her group has written to all the British officials who will be meeting with Hu, "urging them to press Hu Jintao to meet the Dalai Lama personally as the best means to resolve the occupation of Tibet."

During a visit to Washington for talks with US President George W. Bush, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who lives in exile in India, accused Beijing of imposing "very, very repressive" policies in Tibet.

Hu, who became China's head of state in 2003, was the top Chinese Communist Party official for Tibet when martial law was imposed in March 1999 after riots broke out in the region's capital Lhasa.

Police reinforcements were deployed at Buckingham Palace, where Hu is staying.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only