Men surround and confront RTHK reporter Wong Wing-yin as she covers a pro-establishment convention in Tsim Sha Tsui Saturday night. Photo: Reuters
Man arrested for attacking reporters in TST anti-Occupy event
Police arrested a 61-year-old man who allegedly attacked four journalists covering an anti-Occupy convention in Tsim Sha Tsui over the weekend, Ming Pao Daily reported on Monday.
The suspect, said to be a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner surnamed So, will be charged with “assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and common assault” after he reportedly attacked the journalists who were covering an event staged by the “blue ribbon” camp in support of the police force on Saturday night.
So, who lives in Tsuen Wan but owns a clinic on Nathan Road, told police he was not a member of the anti-Occupy group but only tried to push away the crowd with no intention of harming anyone, the report said.
Video taken by journalists at the scene showed that there were several people involved in the assault.
Sham Yee-lan, head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said there were enough police officers in the area who could have arrested the culprits but did nothing. Some officers were even seen shaking hands with those who attended the convention.
But Chief Superintendent Steve Hui, of the police public relations bureau, said the situation was chaotic so it was difficult to see everything that had happened.
He also condemned the violence against the reporters, saying that freedom of the press must be respected.
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http://www.ejinsight.com/20141027-man-arrested-for-attacking-reporters-in-tst-anti-occupy-event/
