A female reporter for the state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) was arrested for assault after making a scene and slapping a volunteer at a U.K. conference on Hong Kong autonomy. The conference, held in Birmingham on Sunday, was co-hosted by the U.K.’s Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and London-based NGO Hong Kong Watch.
https://www.facebook.com/HongKongWatch1/videos/1543672115778226/
CCTV subsequently lodged an official protest to UK authorities over the treatment of its journalist based in the UK, Kong Linlin. A spokesperson of CCTV said it is “unacceptable that the legal rights of a Chinese journalist were violated in the UK, which CCTV notes often flaunts freedom of speech.”
CCTV in strongly protesting the incident, is demanding an official apology from the event’s organizer. It also calling on U.K. police to safeguard the legitimate rights of the Chinese journalist.
Hong Kong Watch explained the incident as such on its Facebook:
“On 30 September 2018, Hong Kong Watch and the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission co-hosted a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference, chaired by Fiona Bruce MP. The event, focused on “the erosion of freedom, the rule of law and autonomy in Hong Kong,” was addressed by three generations of democracy activists from Hong Kong – the founder of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party Martin Lee, leader of the Occupy Movement Benny Tai and Umbrella Movement leader and former political prisoner Nathan Law – as well as the co-founder and Chair of Hong Kong Watch Benedict Rogers.
Towards the end of the event, just before Martin Lee gave the final remarks, Benedict Rogers, who also serves as Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, concluded with these words: “I am pro-China, not anti-China. I want China and its people to succeed. I am a critic of the current Chinese government and the way it treats its people, but I am pro-China as a country and people and I believe it is in both China’s and Britain’s interests for Hong Kong to succeed. It is therefore in all our interests for both China and Britain to honour our commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and ensure that ‘one country, two systems’ is upheld.” Immediately a Chinese woman, with an accredited press pass, stood up and screamed at Mr Rogers: “You are a liar. You are anti-China. You want to separate China. And you are not even Chinese. The rest are all traitors!”
Fiona Bruce MP invited her to leave, but she continued to shout. A student volunteer, Enoch Lieu approached her and insisted that she should leave, but she refused and slapped him twice. Security was called and removed her from the venue, as she continued to shout: “You have no right to interfere in Hong Kong”. She was subsequently arrested by the police. The assaulted volunteer confirmed that the journalist is from the China state media CCTV.”