Beijing: A BBC journalist was crushed up and arrested whereas he was masking anti-government lockdown protests on Sunday night time in Shanghai.

Ed Lawrence was detained on the most important protest web site within the metropolis, Wulumuqi or Urumqi Street on Sunday night time earlier than being freed after a number of hours.

“It is extremely worrying that one in all our journalists was attacked on this manner while finishing up his duties,” the BBC stated in an announcement.

“The BBC is extraordinarily involved in regards to the remedy of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed whereas masking the protests in Shanghai. He was held for a number of hours earlier than being launched. Throughout his arrest, he was crushed and kicked by the police. This occurred whereas he was working as an accredited journalist,” the BBC assertion stated.

The assertion added that it didn’t discover credible the reason given by the authorities that he was held for his “personal good” in case he caught Covid-19.

The Chinese language international ministry performed down the incident, saying Lawrence didn’t reveal his credentials as a journalist.

“Now we have famous that the BBC has issued an announcement. In response to what we now have discovered, the assertion doesn’t replicate what really occurred,” Chinese language international ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian stated on Monday.

“Based mostly on what we learnt from authorities in Shanghai, the journalist didn’t determine himself as a journalist and didn’t voluntarily current credentials. Native regulation enforcement officers had been persuading folks to go away. Those that didn’t had been ushered away,” he added.

Whereas Chinese language authorities are creating hurdles for the worldwide press to cowl the protests, its personal media has completely blacked out the outpouring of individuals’s anger throughout a number of cities and universities in China.

Chinese language media, which is usually Communist party-run or affiliated to the federal government, has ignored the widespread protests, going about doing official propaganda as normal.

On Monday, for example, most information web sites centered on the launch of the Shenzhou-15 spacecraft to its area station, slated for Tuesday night time. Onboard will likely be three male astronauts: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.

Each the Communist Occasion of China (CPC) mouthpiece and official information company, Xinhua, carried a number of editorials and opinion items on why the “zero-Covid” coverage is greatest for the nation with out mentioning a phrase on the protests.

“To curb the most recent Covid-19 resurgences throughout the nation, Chinese language authorities are implementing the newly-released 20 measures in a extra focused and scientific method to make sure folks’s livelihoods,” a Xinhua article stated on Monday.

“The authorities have emphasised three basic ideas – at all times placing the folks and their lives above all the pieces else, sticking to the overall technique of ‘stopping imported circumstances and home resurgences’, and adhering to the overall coverage of ‘dynamic zero-Covid’,” one other Xinhua article stated.