Japanese journalists beaten by police in China

[Animegamer]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080806a1.html

KASHGAR, China (Kyodo) A reporter and photographer from two Japanese news organizations were detained and beaten by paramilitary police late Monday as they tried to cover a deadly attack on police in northwest China's Xinjiang region earlier in the day, the media firms said.

Masami Kawakita, a photographer with Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters, and Shinji Katsuta, a reporter for Nippon Television Network Corp.'s China General Bureau, both suffered minor injuries, the two organizations said separately Tuesday.




Japan will lodge a strong protest with China if it is confirmed the two journalists were beaten by police, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.

"We believe it was a fact. We plan to protest strongly," Machimura told reporters.

China had not yet responded to Japan's inquiry into the facts, he said.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will visit China to attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony Friday and hold talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Kawakita, 38, and Katsuta, 37, arrived in Kashgar late Monday. The two were stopped by force when covering the attack near a police base, in which 16 officers were killed and 16 wounded.

The two were taken to a room in a nearby hotel where police were based and beaten before they were released two hours later, according to sources.

Kawakita had his face pushed to the floor at one point, and his camera flash unit was destroyed, the sources said.

"While (the photographer) was released, we protest strongly the violent detention against just journalistic activities," the Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo headquarters said.

"It is extremely regrettable that violence was used on a reporter who had been working following proper procedures," NTV said.

The local authorities have admitted fault and promised to apologize, the sources said.

The two were among several dozen journalists who arrived in Kashgar late Monday to cover the attack.

According to the Chunichi Shimbun's Tokyo office, Kawakita apparently was not aware police were ordering him to stop and continued running toward the attack site. Officers may have thus mistakenly believed he was fleeing when they pinioned him.

Once he was taken to the police facility, he was given a bottle of water and there was no further physical contact, the paper said. Kawakita was given his camera back and is continuing to report, it added.

On Tuesday, the vice commander of the local police force and two other local authorities went to see Kawakita, Katsuta and the other journalists, who were from Hong Kong, and made a formal apology, the daily said.

The vice commander said he was sorry about what happened, but his men were upset about losing many colleagues in the bombing and were nervous, adding that police will cover any medical fees and pay for the broken flash unit, according to the paper.

The official Xinhua news agency said two Uighur men, aged 28 and 33, were captured after driving a truck into the group of police officers, hurling explosives and assaulting them with knives in what local police suspect was a terrorist attack, only a few days ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Xinhua reported Tuesday that an investigation has determined one of the men is a driver and the other a vegetable seller.

The news agency also said nine homemade bombs and a gun that were found were similar to items seized during a raid in January on a training camp run by a Muslim separatist group.

Police also found material calling for a "holy war," the Xinhua report said.

Foreign reporters were once again obstructed when they arrived at the scene of the attack Tuesday morning. Around 10 police officers in white helmets checked their identification and asked them to leave.

As part of its Olympic pledge, China promised to give international media complete freedom during the games.

It introduced temporary media rules that lifted travel restrictions on foreign correspondents from January 2007 to this October. Under the rules, foreign reporters can also interview anyone who has given consent.

This isn't going to look good for their international image.

[rtil]

the censored by smog beijing olympics 2008

[gurldemnigguhz]

japs need to get their asses beat more often with all the shit they've done to china

[f0d]

japs need to get their asses beat more often with all the shit they've done to china

yeh i agree but who are you

[danger]

I like to poop on my neighbours lawn. I like bad spellinga