UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Monday condemned the beating of a BBC television journalist after he was arrested while covering protests in the Asian country and defended freedom of the press.
«The right to assemble and freedom of the press must be respected. No country is exempt from this. The arrest of journalist Edward Lawrence is deeply troubling. Journalists must be able to do their work without intimidation,» he said in a message on his Twitter account.
Previously, the British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Grant Shapps, warned the Chinese government that «there are no excuses» to justify the beating of Lawrence and described what happened in the city of Shanghai to the journalist in question as an «attack».
Speaking to Sky News, Shapps said that «there is no excuse for a journalist who is simply covering something to be beaten by the police». «Freedom of the press and free information should be sacred,» he said.
Thus, he has expressed that it is «unacceptable» that journalists are «arrested» when «they should have the freedom to cover things openly».
The BBC itself had previously reported that the journalist had been «arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests against the restrictions imposed in China due to the coronavirus pandemic» and that he was subsequently «beaten by the police».
For his part, British Secretary of State for Security Tom Tugendhat has warned that the arrest is «an example of the actions of the Chinese Communist Party.» «The arrest is a sign of the party’s repression.» «This demonstrates the clear need to defend freedoms,» he added.
However, the Chinese authorities have defended the actions of the security forces and have indicated that the BBC reports do not reflect what really happened.
