LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) – The BBC said on Sunday that Chinese police assaulted and detained one of its journalists covering a protest in Shanghai for several hours, but China disputed the account and said he did not identify himself as a reporter.
“The BBC is deeply concerned about the treatment of journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.
“He was held for several hours before being released, and during his arrest he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist.”
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the BBC statement did not reflect what had happened, and that he did not identify himself as a reporter or show his press credentials.
“As far as we understand, the BBC’s statement is incorrect. According to the authorities in Shanghai, the journalist in question did not reveal his press identity at that time, nor did he publicly reveal his foreign press card,” Zhao said.
“When the accident occurred, the law enforcement officials asked people to leave, and when certain people did not cooperate, they were removed from the scene.”
Foreign correspondents in China are required to carry a government-issued card to identify themselves as accredited journalists when covering news events.
Shanghai is one of a number of Chinese cities that have seen protests against tough COVID restrictions, which have broken out in recent days after a deadly fire in the far west of the country.
Video footage on social media showed a man other journalists said was Lawrence being arrested by men in police uniforms.
The BBC, in its statement prior to the Chinese ministry’s comment, said it had not obtained a credible explanation for Lawrence’s detention.
“We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, other than a claim by the officials who later released him that they arrested him for his own good in case he contracted Covid from the crowd,” the BBC said.
(Reporting by David Milliken and Martin Pollard) Editing by Daniel Wallis and Nick McPhee
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