Reporters Without Borders condemns the detention of the BBC reporter in Shanghai and calls on the Chinese regime to respect the right to report on the protests. Cédric Alviani, Western Asia director of Reporters Without Borders, finds the attack on the BBC reporter last weekend disgusting. heard by TSFAlviani says that the excuses made by China are ridiculous and show a lack of reality.
“It is very worrying what is currently happening in various cities in China. Of course this is outrageous and even more so when the authorities claim that they only wanted to save the journalist from catching Covid-19 in the crowd. It’s the most ridiculous excuse. unheard of and shows how out of touch the current Chinese government and its policies are with reality. They are caught in their own web of lies and find it increasingly difficult to give up,” he says.
Cédric Alviani praises the reporters on the ground and recalls that there are 99 journalists imprisoned in mainland China and 11 in Hong Kong.
“These journalists know the risk they are taking and we have to thank them for helping the world learn what is happening in China. It is especially important because, right now, historical events may be taking place in China and it is very important that journalists are there to report what is happening, what we can advise them is to stay safe, safety comes first,” he adds, and emphasizes: “What these journalists do is crucial so that the world has information based on facts about what is happening in China, and not be forced to believe the government’s propaganda.”
The head of Reporters Without Borders in Western Asia argues that “people are fed up with the lies, censorship and propaganda of the government, which hides the reality of the facts and uses the Covid-19 as an excuse to suppress even more information.” “Of course we hope that these are peaceful protests, but we can only hope for an opening in China and that the opening of the government can only come from the pressure of the people.”
A BBC journalist was “beaten and kicked by police” before being arrested in Shanghai on Sunday while covering one of the protests against the Covid-19 prevention measures imposed in China.
The British public broadcaster, through a spokesman, was “very concerned” to confirm that image reporter Edward Lawrence “was attacked” in Shanghai on Sunday, according to images shared on social networks, in which you can see police officers. dragging the handcuffed journalist across the ground.
The BBC criticized the fact that he had not received any official explanation or apology from the authorities, “apart from a statement that he would have been detained for his own good, had he caught the coronavirus in a crowd.”
Edward Lawrence, who works at the BBC’s Beijing office, traveled to Shanghai to cover the protests in recent days.
China’s epidemic prevention measures are the most restrictive in the world under the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ policy. The strategy includes isolating all positive cases and close contacts, locking down entire neighborhoods or cities, and constantly conducting mass testing.
In recent days, protests against the restrictions have spread to major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.
The protests intensified this Thursday after the death of ten people in a fire in a white building of the confinement in Urumqi.
According to the assaulted journalist, in posts shared on his Twitter account, the police blocked roads and did not let people pass, after the crowd had increased.
The Chinese capital, especially protected against outbreaks since 2020, is now experiencing the highest levels of contagion: according to the latest official report, more than 4,300 new cases were detected on Saturday, 82% of which were asymptomatic.
These figures, low by international standards but intolerable for the Chinese authorities, have resulted in restrictions and confinements that affect a large part of the population of the capital.
According to data from the National Health Commission, China broke the record for infections this Saturday by detecting almost 40,000 new cases, although more than 90% are asymptomatic cases.
Official figures show that around 1.8 million people are currently in quarantine, since the guideline is to transfer cases -including asymptomatic ones- and also, but separately, those who have had contact with those infected, to hospitals or isolation centers.
Source: TSF
