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At China's Olympic Ticket Sales Venues
Fans Stampede Police and Media Scuffle

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121698461762484357.html

By MEI FONG and LORETTA CHAO
July 25 2008 2:56 p.m.

BEIJING €€ A last-minute sale of Olympics tickets in Beijing turned into sometimes violent confrontations between police and several Hong Kong reporters raising new questions about how Chinese authorities will treat the thousands of journalists coming for next month's Games.

Video of the incidents which occurred Thursday and Friday showed uniformed police aggressively questioning and in some cases shoving or hitting several Hong Kong reporters who were covering the ticket sales where thousands of prospective buyers jostled for position in often chaotic scenes. At least one reporter was temporarily detained.

The incidents highlight concerns about how China's government will deal with an unprecedented influx of overseas reporters for the Olympics many of whom are used to far greater leeway to cover news than Beijing typically allows. China had promised the International Olympic Committee to allow freedom of the press during the Games as part of its obligations as host city.

The incidents prompted immediate criticism from journalists groups. "We strongly condemn all these assailants including the Beijing Public Security personnel for their wanton violation of Press Freedom" said a statement by the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The group said the actions follow "other attempts by Public Security personnel in Beijing to prevent Hong Kong media people from carrying their normal legitimate rights to gather news in China."

An official from the Beijing Public Security Bureau surnamed Zhang said the bureau was not aware of the incidents.

Authorities have sharply tightened security procedures in the run-up to the Games which start in less than two weeks. The stricter measures have fanned fears that authorities may overreact to civil protests and to members of the press who attempt to cover such incidents.

At the start of this year authorities relaxed regulations limiting the movements of foreign reporters in China. But the looser policy doesn't apply to reporters from Hong Kong a Chinese territory that is governed under a separate freer political system from mainland China.

The latest incidents also raise questions about police preparedness to handle the huge crowds that will descend on Beijing next month. At least 400000 foreigners are expected to attend the Games as well as hundreds of thousands of Chinese from outside Beijing. This week's scuffles broke out when Beijing sold the last round of some 820000 tickets for Olympics events. The sale had been long planned but police were caught off guard by the large numbers of prospective buyers.

A report by China's state-run Xinhua news agency said that at its peak the mob of ticket buyers near the main Olympic venues numbered more than 30000 people. The report said a combination of heat and long waiting made people "emotional" and that more police officers had to be deployed to the scene as the crowds became rowdy. The report said that some of the reporters "from China and overseas" reporting at the scene tried to enter a "forbidden area."

One journalist Felix Wong a photographer with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post was detained Friday while covering a scuffle that broke out when crowds swarmed a ticketing office according to Mr. Wong. Xinhua said Mr. Wong had broken through a barricade and kicked a police officer in the groin.

Mr. Wong in a telephone interview said he was hit by a police officer and may have accidentally kicked him in response. Mr. Wong said he was detained for about six hours.

In a separate incident footage from Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Ltd. or TVB that was posted on YouTube showed a mob scene at the Olympic area where massive crowds were being forcibly pushed back by police officers. The video then showed a police line trying to herd journalists back from filming the scene. A police officer then slips under the police tape and lunges at a reporter who won't budge shoving him to the ground. As he moves toward a cameraman another police officer shoves the reporter and swipes at his face.

Another video posted Thursday by Hong Kong based- Network of the World or NOW appears to show police moving in to break up a fight and then asking to see the identification of journalists covering the action. "What media are you from?" a police officer asks repeatedly of the reporters. One answers "I'm from Hong Kong" to which the officer replies "Well you're from Hong Kong but you're in Beijing and you must follow the laws of Beijing."

Francis Moriarty spokesman for the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong said the organization planned to hold a meeting Saturday to discuss these incidents. "We always view cases of interference with seriousness especially now given the promises made to reporters that they would have freedom of coverage during the Games. I hope this is a one-off" he said.

--Kersten Zhang Gao Sen and Jason Leow in Beijing contributed to this article