Police deny suppressing media freedom after questioning reporters on loitering suspicions
ALLEN.AUYEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 25 December, 2015, 4:57pm
UPDATED : Friday, 25 December, 2015, 6:39pm
Education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim was allegedly stalked by two Apple Daily reporters
Hong Kong police have been accused of suppressing press freedom after two Apple Daily reporters were detained for more than an hour while allegedly stalking education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim yesterday.
According to the Chinese-language newspaper’s version of events, the two reporters had been waiting to interview the Secretary for Education at the government’s headquarters in Admiralty at 5.30pm on Christmas Eve.
After Ng left his office in his car, the reporters followed him in their own vehicle. When their car stopped near an MTR station entrance in Central, six police officers in plain clothes appeared and asked them to show their identification documents, the paper said.
The reporters produced their press cards, but were still taken away for further questioning on suspicion of loitering.
The two were released from Central Police Station without charges at 7.45pm.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association today condemned the police action.
“As public figures, high-ranking officials and their words and actions could affect public interest any time. Following up and monitoring are reporters’ duties,” it said in a statement.
“But, for the officers to bring the reporters back to the police station on suspicion of loitering, even after the reporters had shown their press cards and that they were doing their job, that is unreasonable.”
In response, a police spokesman said the force had received a report yesterday morning that a person had been followed by strangers and vehicles multiple times this week.
Officers then took a man and a woman to a police station to confirm their identities after stopping a car yesterday afternoon.
Police had always respected press freedom and fully understood the need to cooperate with the media, the spokesman added.
Ng had been ridiculed in recent months for failing to turn up to a public hearing on the controversial Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) for Primary Three pupils in the city.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1894849/hong-kong-police-under-fire-detaining-two-reporters
