London: The BBC stated on Sunday that Chinese police assaulted and detained certainly considered one among its reporters protecting a protest in Shanghai, earlier than later liberating him after numerous hours.
“The BBC is extraordinarily worried approximately the remedy of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who changed into arrested and handcuffed even as protecting the protests in Shanghai,” a spokesperson for the British public provider broadcaster stated in a statement.
“He changed into held for numerous hours earlier than being launched. During his arrest, he changed into crushed and kicked with the aid of using the police. This took place even as he changed into running as an permitted journalist,” the spokesperson added.
Shanghai is certainly considered one among some of Chinese towns that has visible protests over stringent COVID restrictions, which flared in latest days following a lethal hearthplace withinside the country’s some distance west.
Footage on social media confirmed a person whom different reporters recognized as Lawrence being arrested with the aid of using guys in police uniforms.
The BBC stated it had now no longer been given a reputable reason for Lawrence’s detention.
“We have had no reliable clarification or apology from the Chinese authorities, past a declare with the aid of using the officers who later launched him that that they’d arrested him for his very own correct in case he stuck COVID from the crowd,” the BBC stated.
China’s embassy in London has been approached for comment.