vrijdag, maart 04, 2005
US photographer beaten by Beijing police
An American photojournalist was kicked and beaten by police in Beijing after he tried to document citizens handing in complaints to the nation's parliament, he said on Thursday.
"I was in front of the complaints office just observing how they were manhandling and harassing petitioners," Michael Reynolds, a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), said of the Wednesday afternoon incident.
"As soon as I whipped out my camera, the police immediately encircled me and began grabbing me and my camera," he told AFP. Reynolds said he feared the police were going to beat him, so he sat down on the ground. "That's when they started kicking me," he said.
He was then forced to stand up and was struck repeatedly in the back and the kidneys as both plainclothes and ordinary police dragged him into a reception area where they held him for 35 minutes, he said. "They took my ID (identification) down and made me wait, but released me after that," he said.
Police refused to comment, but the Chinese foreign ministry said it attached "great importance" to the incident.
Bron: AFP.
"I was in front of the complaints office just observing how they were manhandling and harassing petitioners," Michael Reynolds, a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), said of the Wednesday afternoon incident.
"As soon as I whipped out my camera, the police immediately encircled me and began grabbing me and my camera," he told AFP. Reynolds said he feared the police were going to beat him, so he sat down on the ground. "That's when they started kicking me," he said.
He was then forced to stand up and was struck repeatedly in the back and the kidneys as both plainclothes and ordinary police dragged him into a reception area where they held him for 35 minutes, he said. "They took my ID (identification) down and made me wait, but released me after that," he said.
Police refused to comment, but the Chinese foreign ministry said it attached "great importance" to the incident.
Bron: AFP.
# posted by Jan-Edward : 23:36
|
|