Chinese Police Arrested And Fired For Attacking Journalists During Liputan

Illustration of journalists (ANTARA)

Three police officers in the city of Ore, Guizhou Province, China, were detained and removed from office after attacking a journalist until he was injured.

Deputy Chief of the Machang Sector Police surnamed Xiong and a member surnamed Tao were sentenced to prison, each for 20 days. Meanwhile, another member surnamed Xiong was sentenced to 15 days in prison.

The Ore police said in a press statement monitored in Beijing on Saturday that Xiong was removed from office, while Tao and Li were sacked.

Local media also reported that a Deputy Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) of Machang City surnamed Peng was also removed because he played an important role in the journalist abuse case.

The police received a report from a journalist who was abused by officers near the location of the hydroelectric power plant on Tuesday (30/4) at 06.22 local time (05.22 WIB).

The police immediately went to the scene and immediately took the victim to the nearest hospital due to the injuries he suffered.

Police identified the journalist surnamed Li, but Sixth Tone, a news portal based in Shanghai, said the victim's full name was Li Xiangcheng.

Li works for Jimu News, headquartered in Hubei Province.

The police revealed that Li used her smartphone to record a vehicle that followed her on the way to Shaba Village, where she collected information for her coverage assignment.

The vehicle carrying the three police officers chased and blocked the male journalist while forbidding him to take pictures and then they attacked Li and suffered injuries to her face and other limbs. The three policemen also damaged the victim's cell phone and glasses.

"This incident taught us a lesson regarding the poor understanding of officials about the law. The attack was detrimental to the media and had a negative impact on the community. We would like to apologize to journalists and be willing to receive criticism from the public," said a statement from the police.

According to a Sixth Tone report, Li was conducting investigative coverage of the deaths of two teachers that occurred on April 13 when the hydroelectric plant dumped water into the river while the victims were there.

The families of the victims said that the teachers were ordered by the principal to the river to look for pebbles and cypress trees for school decoration. However, local authorities denied this by arguing that the investigation into the deaths of two teachers was still ongoing.

To Chinese reporters, Li revealed that the officer's car blocking his coverage arrived 30 minutes after he arrived at the scene.

"The three policemen took my cell phone and slammed it to the ground. When I tried to pick it up, they hit me and broke my glasses," he said.

"I held my head and they kept beating me up to six to seven times in one minute," Li added.