A deputy secretary of Guangdong provincial committee of the
Communist Party of China has ordered an investigation into the
alleged assault of eight journalists who were trying to report on a
fatal car accident.
"Anyone who broke the law must be dealt with," Wang Huayuan was
quoted by China Daily as saying today.
The journalists, from three local newspapers and a TV station,
were apparently stopped by security guards and at least one
township government staff member at the scene of an accident on a
bridge in Guangzhou.
It's said they were then dragged into a dark room and beaten in
the early hours of Monday just after the accident. Apparently three
of them were slightly injured and cameras damaged when the
attackers tried to grab their equipment.
The car accident caused the deaths of three people in the
vehicle, which broke through railings on the Renhe Bridge in Renhe
Town, Baiyun District and dropped into the reservoir below.
The security guards were sent by the township government to help
keep order on the bridge after the accident.
A man who reportedly went out from the township government
building complex apparently tried to stop medical workers from a
local hospital treating the reporters. The township police didn't
get to the scene for more than an hour after receiving a call from
the journalists for help, local media reported. The police took the
journalists away for questioning.
Township government officials were not available for comment.
Only the director of the general affairs office of the township
people's congress talked to the media, expressing regret and
blaming poor communication between those involved in the
incident.
(China Daily September 28, 2006)