Protests over Chinese Premier visit

Around 100 people gathered outside the Natural History Museum shouting slogans and waving banners and flags. The snow did little to dampen protesters' spirits as they noisily made their views heard to guests at the venue in Kensington on the opposite side of the road.

Mr Wen arrived at the China-Britain Business Council dinner around 7.30pm on Sunday but the pro-Tibet campaigners remained peaceful. He was ushered into the main entrance of the building shielded with a black umbrella.

Tibetan Ugyan Norbu, who has lived in Britain for 30 years but originally comes from the south-west of the country, said: "We intend to be peaceful. We never intended to be wrathful or violent in any sense. The Chinese Government has been completely ruthless in Tibet and their intention is to exterminate the Tibetan people.

"China needs business as well as the West needs business. It's of mutual benefit, but the Chinese tell you don't talk about human rights in Tibet and the British Government are fairly quiet about it. They should be a bit more forceful."

Mr Wen is in Britain for three days before visiting Germany, Spain, the EU headquarters in Brussels and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Another protester Liam Allmark, 20, from London, said: "Wen Jiabao should not be able to travel around the world without some people highlighting what he's responsible for. He should be facing charges of crimes against humanity not getting a warm welcome. Trade controls a lot of things but we are in a bad situation when economics outweigh human rights."

Teacher Paula Hollings, 53, also from London, said: "In the economic climate with Chinese trade being affected now could be a really good time for us to do a little bargaining. We could do something and actually stand up for some justice."

Further protests are expected as Mr Wen continues his visit on Monday.

Director of the Free Tibet campaign Stephanie Brigden said: "Just because the spotlight is no longer on Tibet it doesn't mean that the situation has got better. This is why people are standing out in sub-zero temperatures to try to get people to focus on what's happening in Tibet right now. Tibetan people have no right to do what we are doing today. We must pay testimony where Tibetans can't."