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Hong Kong Becoming Conflict Zone for Journalists

Brian Padden

   HONG KONG - Journalists organizations are increasingly concerned that
   journalists covering the increasingly violent demonstrations in Hong
   Kong are being targeted by police action and sometimes protesters.

   Months of massive pro-democracy demonstrations in this semiautonomous
   city under Chinese authority have grown increasingly tense, as police
   have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds, and some
   protesters armed with rocks and even homemade gasoline bombs have
   attacked police.

   Voice of America Mandarin reporter Yihua Lee has been among the
   thousands of journalists in Hong Kong that have found themselves in
   dangerous situations, as clashes erupted between masked protesters and
   police, and in areas where police have fired tear gas into crowds.

   "I do feel the unfriendly feeling from the police, when we are covering
   the protests on really the front lines. Maybe they feel we are blocking
   their way, or maybe they are feeling that we are not really neutral,"
   said Lee.

   Police targeting

   Journalists often find themselves in the middle of clashes while
   reporting on conflicts. However during these pro-democracy
   demonstrations, both the Hong Kong Journalist Association and the Hong
   Kong Foreign Correspondents Club have accused the police of
   purposefully targeting reporters.

   "Since June, journalists have been the target of police brutality and
   hostile treatment, physical and verbal abuses and attacks," said Chris
   Yeung, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

   Video evidence, said Eric Wishart the vice president of the Hong Kong
   Foreign Correspondents Club, shows police at times "deliberately" using
   tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons and physical force to "obstruct
   journalists trying to cover the arrests and other police action."

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