China Cracks Down On Journalists While Suppressing Protests

China Accuses Foreign Journalists of Deliberately Inciting Unrest

VoA News: China has accused foreign journalists of deliberately inciting unrest by reporting on pro-democracy rallies, and says those found violating new media restrictions will not be protected under Chinese law.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, speaking Thursday at a tense news conference in Beijing, said there are no Chinese media laws to protect journalists who create what she described as disturbances. Earlier this week, Chinese police warned foreign journalists to obey new restrictions on covering pro-democracy rallies or risk having their work visas revoked.

At least 16 journalists, including VOA's Beijing bureau chief, were physically harassed on Sunday by plainclothes and uniformed police at a rally point in Beijing. Those targeted included an American reporter hospitalized after a severe beating witnessed by other reporters.

The journalists had gone to the Wangfujing area of the capital, which had been designated in a mysterious online campaign as a protest site. There were no signs of protesters either in Beijing or another rally point designated in Shanghai. But police swarmed both sites.

Earlier Thursday, a leading journalists' group said foreign reporters were systematically being called in by security officials and warned against reporting without advance permission at protest sites across the country.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said in a letter to its members that dozens of journalists in Beijing and Shanghai have been called in to meetings this week.

The correspondents club said the meetings at Public Security Bureau offices were videotaped by police while the reporters were not permitted to make notes. It said the reporters were warned that they could lose their work permits or face other disciplinary action if they turn up at the sites again without permission.

Several major news agencies said their reporters were called to the meetings and gave similar accounts.

Few if any Chinese demonstrators have turned out for the protests, inspired by the wave of popular uprisings across the Middle East. The Internet postings have urged Chinese to press for more accountable government by strolling past the specified sites at a given hour each Sunday.

China loosened its rules at the time of the 2008 Olympics to permit reporters to work freely in most of China as long as they asked individuals and organizations for permission before interviewing them.

But the correspondents club said reporters are being told it has always been forbidden to work in Wangfujing without advance permission. The restrictions were spelled out in a new posting Wednesday on a local government website, but officials told Reuters news agency the posting merely clarified longstanding rules.