DPA
Hong Kong
In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing, Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang said Tuesday that officers’ treatment of journalists during anti-government protests two days earlier was "undesirable.”
Speaking at a press conference, Tang addressed an incident during which officers corralled journalists and forced them to kneel, turn off their cameras, and show press identification. Tang said the officers "should have been more professional.” Tensions between police and journalists covering the Hong Kong protests have steadily risen since the movement began in June, when the administration sought to pass a now-withdrawn bill widely seen as a direct threat to the territory’s autonomy from mainland China.
Local and foreign outlets have published footage of police officers spraying journalists in the face with pepper spray, shooting pepper ball projectiles, tear gas, and rubber bullets directly at them, and using disproportionate force while questioning and detaining journalists.
Photojournalist Aiden Andersen, who has covered the Hong Kong protests since August, has captured multiple instances of police violence against him and other journalists.
He told dpa that officers at Sunday’s protests were "extremely threatening, disappointing, and unprofessional,” adding that he was pepper sprayed and pushed while documenting an arrest.
Andersen said that his overall interactions with Hong Kong police while reporting on the protests have been "extremely unfavourable.”
"I’ve been verbally harassed, physically pushed, and shot by most types of weaponry the police carry. Most of the time I do not feel as if I’m treated as a human, but as purely a physical nuisance,” he said.
Chief Tang said he had contacted four journalist groups, including The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association, to discuss police - journalist relations in a meeting next week. The move is the force’s first move towards improving relations between the two groups.
Police repeatedly blamed violent interactions with the press on "imposter journalists” whom they say wear fake high visibility yellow vests to avoid police scrutiny at illegal protests.
The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) put out a request for journalists to relay their account of Sunday’s incident for the purpose of "conducting research” ahead of the police-press meeting.
Hong Kong
In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing, Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang said Tuesday that officers’ treatment of journalists during anti-government protests two days earlier was "undesirable.”
Speaking at a press conference, Tang addressed an incident during which officers corralled journalists and forced them to kneel, turn off their cameras, and show press identification. Tang said the officers "should have been more professional.” Tensions between police and journalists covering the Hong Kong protests have steadily risen since the movement began in June, when the administration sought to pass a now-withdrawn bill widely seen as a direct threat to the territory’s autonomy from mainland China.
Local and foreign outlets have published footage of police officers spraying journalists in the face with pepper spray, shooting pepper ball projectiles, tear gas, and rubber bullets directly at them, and using disproportionate force while questioning and detaining journalists.
Photojournalist Aiden Andersen, who has covered the Hong Kong protests since August, has captured multiple instances of police violence against him and other journalists.
He told dpa that officers at Sunday’s protests were "extremely threatening, disappointing, and unprofessional,” adding that he was pepper sprayed and pushed while documenting an arrest.
Andersen said that his overall interactions with Hong Kong police while reporting on the protests have been "extremely unfavourable.”
"I’ve been verbally harassed, physically pushed, and shot by most types of weaponry the police carry. Most of the time I do not feel as if I’m treated as a human, but as purely a physical nuisance,” he said.
Chief Tang said he had contacted four journalist groups, including The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association, to discuss police - journalist relations in a meeting next week. The move is the force’s first move towards improving relations between the two groups.
Police repeatedly blamed violent interactions with the press on "imposter journalists” whom they say wear fake high visibility yellow vests to avoid police scrutiny at illegal protests.
The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) put out a request for journalists to relay their account of Sunday’s incident for the purpose of "conducting research” ahead of the police-press meeting.