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CROSS-STRAIT TALKS: Journalists’ association condemns acts of violence by police and demonstrators

“When I was hit, I dropped my walkie-talkie, and they just picked it up and threw it at the police.”

— Tracy Hwang, a CTI-TV reporter

The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) yesterday condemned violent acts — by both demonstrators and the police — that harmed reporters at various protest scenes on Thursday night.

“We fully support freedom of expression, but strongly condemn any form of violence,” ATJ secretary-general Liu Chia-yun (劉嘉韻) said. “Freedom of the press, as well as journalists’ right to work safely should be respected by both demonstrators and the police.”

Clashes erupted between demonstrators and the police during a rally organized by the Democratic Progressive Party near the Presidential Office on Thursday.

The crowd threw rocks, plastic bottles, dirt, firecrackers, eggs and ink among other things at the police while also engaging in physical clashes with the police.

Some of the objects ended up wounding reporters.

“The crowd threw anything they could find. I was hit on the head and feet by a big flower pot,” Tracy Hwang (黃安晴), a reporter with CTI-TV said. “When I was hit, I dropped my walkie-talkie, and they just picked it up and threw it at the police. My cameraman was hit on the head with a brick, and he was bleeding all over.”

According to information released by the ATJ yesterday, a total of eight TV reporters were wounded and sent to the emergency room during the day, while several other reporters from the print media suffered minor injuries after being hit by flying water bottles.

Clashes also took place in the early hours of yesterday morning after protesters marched toward the Grand Hotel, where China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was staying. They were stopped by police on the road leading to Zhongshan Bridge.

A video clip broadcast by Formosa TV (FTV) showed that when the riot police advanced to push protesters back, an officer hit FTV reporter Tsai Meng-yu (蔡孟育) twice on the face with a pole.

“As soon as he [the police officer] ran out, he started beating just anybody he ran into,” Tsai said. “I tried to run away when the police started their advance, but as I turned around, I felt two hits right away — one on my nose, and one on my [right] eye. I felt dizzy and started bleeding.”

Tsai said that he was considering filing a lawsuit against the officer.

“This is horrible police brutality. Tsai was holding a microphone with an FTV logo on it, so it’s quite obvious that he is a reporter,” said ATJ chairman Leon Chuang (莊豐嘉). “Even if Tsai weren’t a reporter, I doubt it’s really necessary to beat a civilian like that.”
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