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Carrie Lam to work with Beijing on ways to stop mainland Chinese security forces attacking Hong Kong journalists
City’s leader again fails to criticise police for assaulting reporter, but reiterates belief that freedom of the press should be respected
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Hong Kong’s leader on Wednesday said the government would work with Beijing to try and prevent reporters from being assaulted by police and security forces on the mainland.
But Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor again failed to criticise the actions of officers who beat a Hong Kong journalist bloody while arresting him as he covered a hearing involving a human rights lawyer last week.
Responding to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu, Lam said authorities in Beijing had operated within the law, but reiterated her belief that it was important for both sides to show mutual respect.
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The physical altercation, involving Now TV journalist Chui Chun-ming, came just four days after another reporter, Chan Ho-fai of i-Cable News, was attacked by two men while covering the 10th anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake.
At the Legislative Council’s question and answer session on Wednesday morning, Kwong asked the chief executive why she had not condemned the police, and pointed to a statement from the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) which noted her “nonchalant response” to the incident.
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