A British journalist was dragged off and beaten up by Chinese police while trying to cover a pro-Tibet protest on Wednesday in Beijing.
This is NOT GOOD, China!!!
Police hauled John Ray, China correspondent for Independent Television News (ITN), from a park less than a mile from the Bird’s Nest stadium to a nearby restaurant, where they threw his shoes in the corner and sat on his arms. The police took this action shortly after foreign protesters unfurled a pro-Tibet banner.
“I wonder how this fits in with their solemn promise of free and unrestricted reporting,” Ray said shortly after his release. “This was a wrestling match.”
Ray, who is fully accredited to report in Beijing during the Olympic Games, said he was detained for 20 minutes and his equipment bag was confiscated despite repeated protestations – in Chinese – that he was a journalist.
He was thrown into a police van, his pants and shirt were covered in grime, and his hand was bruised from where a police officer stood on it, he said.
Cameraman Ben England was also manhandled and prevented from filming the protest by police.
NOT GOOD AT ALL!
It just raises even more questions about what’s going on in that country while the rest of the world’s not looking.
This Olympics thing may end up backfiring big time for China.
this isn’t news. we’re talking about a country with a serious history of abusing it’s own people.. we all let the olympics go on as planned while we ignored what was going on. i don’t want to hear anymore bitching about it.. the world has made this bed, now effing lie in it!
I’m just thrilled that folks are paying attention to this.
China freaks me out. If they are willing to say that it is in the national interest to substitute a “pretty” child because the actual child singing their national anthem has buck teeth, what WON’T they do?
They have no shame.
The silver lining? Maybe some of the folks who are convinced that America is the instigator of all world problems will start to see the light and realize that for all our imperfections, America isn’t as horrible as they think.
and not to mention the :- goose-stepping military……closing down of internet sites…..gagging and abusing reporters…..fake fire-works…..lip sync kiddies….lies lies lies…..etc etc etc….it`s a long list indeed!
Not a good look China ,eh?
Why was Beijing even chosen, clearly they are supporting Sudan with genocide, they are killing monks in Tibet during peaceful protests. Also the next Dali Lama was stolen by the Chinese a few years ago and the child is feared dead.
Again, Bush sat on his ass and did/does nothing. I won’t watch, or support the Olympics, and poor choices in hosts ensure I never will.
They are the modern-day version of the SS-troops and the Nazi’s!
Really bad country!
fuck,, a lot , I have ever been to China , which is a good country ,their people are very very friendly , if you go to China ,you will be here just like at home . so , say less, do more, you have no rights to say anthing if you don’t investigate. so if you want to say something about China, please please go to China ,then say ,or else ,fuck you bitch, shut up……………………….
Actually, one of the few good things that President Bush ever did was pose for photographs with the Dali Lama. His Holiness won a Nobel Prize how many years ago?, and Bush was the first U.S. president to have the guts to have his photograph taken with the man. This was a move that infuriated the Chinese government.
It was not the child who was to become the next Dali Lama that the Chinese kidnapped. It was a child who had just been recognized by the Dali Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama. After kidnapping and hiding the real Panchen Lama, the Chinese government produced their “own” Panchen Lama, another child entirely. Subtlety has never been the strong suit of the Chinese government.
It’s a good thing China got the Olympics so all the dirty stories can be covered and cabled out to the rest of the world. I’m guessing a big amount of the China-lovers have been reduced…..or at least I’m hoping so.
Let’s not forget their little habit of abandoning baby girls. Right now there are about 20 million boys who will never marry because there aren’t enough women. Way to go China.
I’ve always been more scared of the Chinese than any other country, not Russia, not Iran…if any country is going to have the power – both military and economic, to destroy the world, it’s China.
Human Rights doesn’t mean shit to the Chinese…but the United States is no longer a moral compass either.
thats funny. i think you american ppl should pay more attention to your own problems and what you do to other countries. you r no example either.
@tigerlille: interesting post, thanks for the info.
@back to back: i don’t believe beet was attacking chinese people, she is highlighting serious moral and ethical issues that exist with the chinese government as more mainstream journalists should be doing. american news tends to cover only local or national issues because international news doesn’t bring in the ratings. consequently, many americans are truly unaware of the chinese government’s abuses.
unfortunately, i have to agree with just saying, the us is not stellar in the human rights arena. we have significant room for improvement.
we stopped buying any and all products from china when so many of them were filled with lead. this commitment makes christmas incredibly difficult considering most toys are made there. but we will stick with it because sometimes the only way for an everyday citizen to effectuate change is through his/her spending.
interesting perspective klorofylling, i think you make an excellent point. if journalists are beaten and censored, we can hope they will tell their stories when they return home and their gags are removed. So that the chinese government’s abuses will be more prevalent in the media, particularly its two faced stance on darfur.
I have been watching the Olympics. I am proud of our athletes and want to support them because quite frankly there is no way in hell I have ever been or ever will be so dedicated to anything, particularly exercise.
Did anyone else catch during the opening ceremonies that originally some 2000 costumes were supposed to be black but the director didn’t like the look. So within FORTY EIGHT (48) hours they were changed to green. NONE of the commentators made the connection to the amount of effort that took the underpaid child laborers of the country. That really pissed me off, it was like “wow, those costumes just magically appeared isn’t that amazing?!”
This has been going on for a long time. I guess people have just been to ignorant to notice it.
I mean, really. People worry about the US’ emissions? It’s all coming from China. They have no “EPA”.
And isn’t it just great that most of our products are made there?
i love you, ribbet!!! my 16 yr old daughter said the same thing about the green costumes!!! those little kids must have worked non-stop around the clock!
and back to back- you are missing the point. “investigating” is exactly what these journalists are doing, and it’s not going well for them. . .
There is a great difference between a government and its people.
I am glad that the Olympics was in Beijing. Finally more of what the government in China does is uncovered. Maybe this will prevent them from completely destroying the Tibetan race and it’s culture.
back at you joan and your daughter too. i’m glad i wasn’t the only one who noticed.
I am the mother of a baby abandoned in China. I was looking forward to taking her back to the land of her birth about now (she’s nine), but I am honestly a little afraid to, after reading about the young women who are kidnapped and taken to the countryside and forced to marry men because of the shortage of women. Did you know that rural women in China have the highest suicide rate in the world?
However, thanks to the international exposure of the inhumane treatment of abandoned babies (mostly girls) in China’s orphanages, followed by the continued efforts of those of us who have adopted internationally from China to help those left behind, the number of baby girls being abandoned now has gone way down. It used to be very difficult for Chinese families to officially adopt abandoned children in their own country. The government’s rules have loosened up, and now most of the babies that parents are unable to keep for whatever reason are being adopted domestically. Most the the abandoned babies now are boys who have significant health problems.
At one time it was illegal for birth parents to take children they were unable to keep to orphanages, which is why babies were abandoned. As far as I know, this policy has not been revised, but I am not up to date on this issue.
I would like to point out that a preference for male babies is the case in almost all cultures around the world. The practise of abandoning baby girls to die is an ancient one in Asia. The practise of selling Asian baby girls into slavery/sexual subjugation is also an ancient one, that still thrives. European civillizations don’t have a good track record for their treatment of females either, and there is still an active sexual slave trade in this country.
Gee, I never imagined making these kinds of posts to a gossip blog!
tigerlille: thank you again for your post. so much to think about . . . who knew that could happen on the same blog that contemplates ali lohan’s boobs and katie holmes’ jeans!
Is anyone really surprised by such behavior in China? The same country that executes people to harvest organs.
@donkey punch: the chinese government’s behavior isn’t surprising. what never ceases to amaze me is how we haven’t learned a damn thing from history.
when hitler came to power and systematically began to elimiate the jewish people, other governments, citizens of other countries and the press were silent. the olympics were allowed to go to germany and hitler’s great nation was celebrated.
the parallels that can be drawn between the current chinese government’s treatment of its own citizens and those of other nations (e.g. Tibet and Sudan) and hitler’s germany are numerous and startling.
same atrocities and complacency different nations and decades.
The Chinese are about to learn how important girls and women really are when their precious boys don’t have any women to marry.