China blocks bbc website after video shows hong kong police beating protester

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CHINA BLOCKS BBC WEBSITE AFTER VIDEO SHOWS HONG KONG POLICE BEATING PROTESTER

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16 Oct 2014 - 7:39am








Hong Kong’s justice chief insists that any prosecution of plainclothes officers who were filmed beating a handcuffed protester will be handled impartially, as fresh clashes broke out on the city’s streets.


The accused officers were removed from their posts after the assault, which occurred early on Wednesday when police swooped to clear newly erected barricades blocking a road near government headquarters in the city’s Admiralty district.

Just 24 hours later a small contingent of protesters attempted to retake an underpass on the same road, leading to a confrontation that saw protesters pepper-sprayed and police heckled with chants accusing them of links with criminal triad gangs.

The BBC’s website was blocked in China, hours after a video of Hong Kong police beating and kicking a pro-democracy protester began circulating online.

The move appears to be the first time the British broadcaster’s English-language website has been completely blocked in China since December 2010, when it was inaccessible for days before the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

In a statement on Wednesday, BBC director of global news Peter Horrocks said the move against the Chinese-language website “appears to be deliberate censorship”.

“The BBC strongly condemns any attempts to restrict free access to news and information and we are protesting to the Chinese authorities,” Horrocks said.

“The BBC provides impartial, trusted news to millions of people around the world, and attempts to censor our news services show just how important it is to get our accurate information to them.”

In a Twitter posting on Wednesday, BBC’s Asia bureau chief Jo Floto noted that Chinese authorities also have a “usual practice of blacking out BBC World during Hong Kong reports.

Crowds numbering in the tens of thousands have blocked main roads in three districts of the semi-autonomous Chinese city since September 28, protesting at what they call “fake democracy” offered by Beijing.
They are angered at China’s insistence that it vet candidates standing for election as the city’s next leader in 2017.

On a visit to London, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen said he had not seen the footage of the alleged assault but told AFP there were “very well-established procedures” in Hong Kong to handle police complaints.
Referring to any possible criminal prosecutions arising from the alleged police beating, Yuen said: “I can guarantee that if there is any need to move in that direction, my department will handle the matter in an independent and impartial manner.”







China’s Communist Party oversees a vast censorship system that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out internet and TV content and commentary on topics considered sensitive, such as Beijing’s human rights record and criticisms of the government.

The New York Times and Bloomberg have had their websites blocked in China since they published investigations in 2012 into the family wealth of former premier Wen Jiabao and President Xi Jinping respectively.

As pro-democracy protests in China’s semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong escalated late last month, online censors moved to block the photo-sharing app Instagram, which joined Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as popular social media platforms inaccessible in mainland China.

The blocking of the BBC’s website came as a video of Hong Kong police beating a pro-democracy protester went viral on the internet.

In the video, released by Hong Kong television network TVB, a group of six plainclothes officers are shown assaulting a handcuffed and unarmed protester identified as Ken Tsang.

*Article first appeared on http://www.news.com.au/world/china-blocks-bbc-website-after-video-shows-...


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