From Reporters’ Home section of Xici.net, translated by CDT:
Eight reporters from newspapers and TV stations descended upon an accident in the early morning a few days ago where a bus fell off a bridge at Renhe Township (‰∫∫ÂíåÈïá) in Guangzhou‘s Baiyun District.
Right when they felt relieved after finishing reporting and shooting, something else descended on them. A group of men clothed like law enforcement officials and plain clothes cadres from the local township government rounded up the reporters and cornered them in a dark room. While being roughed up, a photographer started pressing the shutter button, which agitated the men and led to greater violence. The reporters were “showered with fists.”
One reporter, while retreating from the chaos, had a nail thrust through his foot, but nobody, except his colleagues, paid any attention.
More disturbing, the reporters saw police coming only after an hour of making more than 20 phone call pleas. Reason being: “Everybody is saving people in the car accident, we don’t have enough staff,” according to the police.
The gang of thugs, after beating the reporters up, walked into the township government complex and closed the gate on the reporters.
When a team of doctors came, also an hour after the incident, an official came toward the government gate where the reporters assembled to wait for help, and yelled out to the doctor at work, “Don’t attend to their wounds, and get out of here now!”
Only upon resistance from the reporters did the doctor resume his work. [Full Text in Chinese]
Half-joking comments suggest that all the reporters should learn kung-fu or Tae Kwon Do. Some comments expressed surprise, some anger.
See also photos from the incident and a translation of a Southern Metropolis News report on the incident, via ESWN.
