The State Department is “closely following” a recent incident involving a Chinese Consulate guard attacking peaceful protesters with pepper spray outside the diplomatic mission in Los Angeles, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“The right to peaceably assemble is guaranteed by the First Amendment of our Constitution. The repression of the exercise of this fundamental freedom will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The attack took place on Jan. 4, after dozens of Chinese activists staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Consulate General to celebrate the U.S. arrest of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

A security guard, after threatening the activists during a heated exchange, pulled out a pepper spray device and blasted it in the eyes of the protesters closest to him, according to video footage captured at the scene.

He then ran toward those standing on the streets and pepper sprayed several more, the footage showed.

The activists counted eight victims, with one person convulsing and others experiencing eye burns and chest pains.

The guard, 38-year-old professional security service firm owner Wu Xian, was arrested the same day. He was released on Jan. 6 on a court order, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Multiple lawmakers, including chairman of the House Select Committee on China Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) expressed alarm upon hearing the incident.

Moolenaar, noting that peaceful protest and free expression are constitutional rights, said these freedoms “apply to all people lawfully assembling in public spaces in the United States including outside foreign diplomatic facilities.”

“No foreign government, its representatives, or affiliated actors may violate these cardinal principles,” he told The Epoch Times.

He said his committee “strongly condemns the transnational repression and coercive tactics employed by the Chinese Communist Party to silence critics and intimidate dissidents beyond its borders.”

“The CCP is accustomed to trampling on the rights of its own citizens at home, but that behavior will not be tolerated on American soil,” he said, adding that the committee will “continue to expose and counter the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to undermine human rights, intimidate critics, and erode civil liberties.”

The timing of the event also highlights the close ties between China and Venezuela, some lawmakers said.

“The reason why Maduro needed to be deposed and he needed to be removed. Past his narco terrorism, he’s working directly—my view—with the Chinese; they’re not our friends,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told NTD, sister media of The Epoch Times.

“The Chinese government’s upset about his removal. Of course they are, which further demonstrates why it’s in our interest that he was removed,” he said.

Chinese activist Fu Chaoqun, one of eight people pepper sprayed by a Chinese security guard outside Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Jan. 4, 2026. (Courtesy of the China Democracy Party International Alliance)

Maduro had met with a Chinese delegation hours before his seizure. Since then, the Chinese regime has protested the U.S. move and demanded Maduro’s release.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee’s vice chair, cited the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 when asked about the incident.

“Ever since Tiananmen Square, we’ve known that China will use techniques that are unacceptable, and it doesn’t surprise me that even in the United States, China would do that,” he told NTD.

With the U.S. action in Venezuela, he said, “we’re breaking up the coziness of China in the southern hemisphere.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Chinese consulate for comment.