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09-09-2009 |
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The authorities in Xinjiang
have claimed that three Hong Kong
journalists were inciting public disorder while they were
covering the unrest in Urumqi
last week. They also say two
of them had not been
authorized to report in the
city. The journalists' employers, TVB and NowTV have rejected the allegations. The director of the
Xinjiang Autonomous Regional
Information Office, Hou
Hanmin, said authorities had
spotted the three inciting crowds of protesters last Friday by making hand gestures. She said officers had asked them to leave the scene, and to show their identification, which
they refused to do, adding
that an 'unfortunate incident'
occurred after the journalists
ignored the repeated requests.
The reporter and two cameramen say they were beaten up and detained while conducting normal reporting activities. Ms Hou also accused other media outlets from Hong Kong of biased and irresponsible reporting of the incident, without knowing the facts. NowTV has released a statement rejecting the allegations as groundless. It said its staff member had revealed his identity to the officers who attacked him, but they ignorned it. TVB said it was "extremely unhappy" with Ms Hou's remarks. The broadcaster said both of its staff had proper accreditation, and the mainland accusations were
"false and one-sided".
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