Hong Kong journalists group blasts police and education minister over news reporters’ arrest
Journalists Association chairwoman says ‘biggest worry’ is that such handling will become normal in future
The Journalists Association will submit a letter to the police chief today to protest the force’s arrest of two journalists who were chasing after the education minister.
The Apple Daily reporters were detained by the police for more than 90 minutes on Christmas Eve on suspicion of loitering, even though they produced press cards to officers. Officers also rejected their offer to call their boss to verify their identities on the spot.
Association chairwoman Sham Yee-lan said she did not remember any precedent of reporters being arrested when chasing public figures at public occasions.
READ MORE: Hong Kong police under fire for detaining two reporters ‘following’ education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim
“Our biggest worry is that this practice will become normal in the future,” said Sham. She said such practice would effectively end their assigned tasks and prevent them from carrying out their watchdog duty.
Sham said there were means to verify the two reporters’ identities on the spot, such as asking the Education Bureau’s or police’s public relations staff to contact the reporters’ companies.
She also slammed the Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim for seeking help from the Security Bureau, which then transferred the case to the police for follow-up action. She suspected that Ng did so to exert pressure on the police to handle the matter exceptionally.
She said the association demanded in its letter that the police promise not to use such tactics again in the future.