BBC says Chinese police assaulted and detained its reporter at Shanghai protest

Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by SkeletalAdjustment
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Chinese police assaulted and detained a BBC journalist covering a protest in Shanghai on Sunday, releasing him after several hours, the broadcaster has said.

“The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai,” a spokesperson for the British public service broadcaster said.

“He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist.”

Lawrence later shared the statement from the BBC on social media and said he understood at least one local national was arrested after trying to stop police from beating him.

Shanghai is one of a number of Chinese cities that have seen protests over stringent Covid restrictions. Protests flared in recent days after a deadly fire in China’s far west.

Footage on social media showed a man whom other journalists identified as Lawrence being arrested by men in police uniforms.

The BBC said it had not been given a credible explanation for Lawrence’s detention.

“We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd.”

I’m at the scene of last night’s extraordinary anti Covid-zero protest in Shanghai. Many people are gathered here quietly watching. Lots of cops. Two girls laid flowers which were promptly removed by police. One man drove past with middle finger up at police. #shanghai — Edward Lawrence (@EP_Lawrence) November 27, 2022

Lawrence, a senior journalist and camera operator for the BBC’s China bureau, was tweeting from the scene of the protest in Shanghai on Sunday morning UK time.

He wrote: “I’m at the scene of last night’s extraordinary anti Covid-zero protest in Shanghai. Many people are gathered here quietly watching. Lots of cops.”

Another tweet read: “One man has just approached me to say his flowers were confiscated by police.

“As he tells me this, two cops come over to listen to our conversation.”

China’s embassy in London has been approached for comment.

jsd_bookreview_acc on November 28th, 2022 at 03:53 UTC »

Breaking news coming in from China:

"Ed Lawrence, BBC journalist, was not beaten. He underwent a special physiotherapeutic operation for Covid-19 immunity boosting"

Civil_Knowledge7340 on November 28th, 2022 at 01:01 UTC »

I hope the NBA doesn't hear about this. They'll have to continue to ignore contradictions in their activism.

anarrogantworm on November 28th, 2022 at 00:49 UTC »

Saw video of him being dragged off by Chinese police on publicfreakout. Pretty fucked up.