The leader of Hong Kong’s largest journalists’ group on Wednesday was arrested while reporting on a story, his news outlet, Channel C, reported.
Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairman Ronson Chan (陳朗昇) was arrested on allegations of obstructing police.
Chan, a deputy assignment editor, was detained while in Mong Kok District while trying to report on a residential estate committee meeting about a property development, Channel C reported.
The Hong Kong police said in a statement that a 41-year-old man named Chan was arrested in Mong Kok on suspicion of obstructing a police officer and public disorder after acting suspiciously and refusing to show his identity card.
The man was being held pending further investigation, the police said.
Chan wrote in a text message to Bloomberg News that he had been released without charge and would need to report to police later this month.
In a Facebook post published at about 3am, he apologized for worrying people.
The international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders called for Chan’s “immediate release” in a Twitter post late on Wednesday.
Hong Kong fell 68 places year-on-year to 148th place in Reporters Without Borders’ most recent World Press Freedom Index as China cracks down on dissent in the former British colony.
Several pro-democracy media companies have shut down in the wake of a Beijing-drafted National Security Law implemented in June 2020.
Apple Daily, the territory’s largest pro-democracy newspaper, was forced to close last year after the government seized its assets, while independent media firms, including Stand News and Citizen News, have also ceased publication.
Chan and the association have been criticized by authorities and pro-Beijing media.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang (鄧炳強) last year said that the organization “infiltrates” schools to attract students to journalism, a claim that the association has denied.
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