Dangerous

Tibet-Aktivisten in Peking festgenommen 13.8.2008 11:06
Bei einem erneuten Protest von ausländischen Tibet-Aktivisten während der Olympischen Spiele in Peking sind sieben Teilnehmer festgenommen worden. In T-Shirts mit der Aufschrift "Befreit Tibet" versammelten sich fünf Demonstranten am Haupteingang eines Parks. Zwei andere rollten an einer Brücke daneben Banner aus, wie die Organisation "Students For a Free Tibet" aus New York berichtete. Ein ausländischer Journalist, der darüber berichten wollte, wurde für eine halbe Stunde festgehalten. Dies sei ein Verstoss gegen die Regeln für olympische Berichterstattung, schimpfte er.
British reporter detained in Beijing

By Mure Dickie in Beijing

Published: August 13 2008 08:04 | Last updated: August 13 2008 08:04

Beijing police pushed a British television journalist to the ground, dragged him through a restaurant and detained him after he tried to cover a protest by Tibet activists near the Olympic Park, the journalist said on Wednesday.

John Ray, China correspondent for Britain’s ITV News, said he was left ”a bit shaken” by his treatment at the hands of four or five uniformed police and had a bruise on one finger where one had stood on his hands.
”Otherwise I’m in good shape, but I wonder how this fits with their solemn promise of free and unrestricted reporting,” Mr Ray said, in a reference to Beijing’s repeated pledges to give international media a free hand to cover China during the Olympic Games.

Mr Ray said he was grabbed by police after trying to enter Ethnic Minorities Park, which is just south of Beijing’s main Olympic venues, after spotting a Tibetan banner being unfurled from a bridge.

While being held in a police van, one officer asked him what his views on Tibet were and after his release police told his colleague that he was being accused of himself trying to unfurl a Tibetan flag, he said.

Police were still holding some of his equipment.

Beijing police declined to immediately comment on the incident, which was quickly denounced by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

”The FCCC is appalled at this treatment of an accredited journalist within half a mile of the Olympic Park,” said Jonathan Watts, FCCC president. ”We call on the authorities to immediately return (Mr Ray’s) equipment and to apologise.”

China routinely breaks up unapproved demonstrations and detains those involved, but the rough handling of an international journalist will fuel criticism that the government is making no effort to honour its commitment to allowing unrestricted reporting during the games.

Some foreign media have this week been prevented from entering areas in western Xinjiang, site of a recent series of violent incidents. Earlier this year, international journalists were banned completely from Tibet after riots broke out in the restive Himalayan region.

Mr Ray said he had repeatedly informed the police that he was a British journalist but had not even been allowed to show his official journalist’s accreditation.