Tom Van de Weghe and his crew were attacked in a rural area of Henan province while interviewing people suffering from AIDS, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China on Thursday, according to boxun.com.
According to a statement on the Foreign Correspondents Club website,
Van de Weghe, his cameraman and assistant were beaten up and robbed of tapes, phones and money as they attempted to report on HIV-Aids in Henan province.
Eight thugs pulled their van over, reached inside to unlock the doors, dragged the crew on to the road and punched them into submission. [.....]
Earlier in the day, the reporters had been questioned by a policeman. Soon after, they were followed by two unmarked cars. After several hours, they were stopped again, surrounded and forced to hand over a tape. Locals said the thugs in this incident were Zhoukou and Gangshan county officials.The journalists tried to return to the airport, but their van was pulled over a third time on a dark road, where the violent assault took place. The reporters were beaten until they handed over their tapes, identity cards and belongings.
The incident apparently occured in Shangqiu County (商丘县). According to Van de Weghe in VRT’s (Belgium) Het Late Journaal he was told that nationwide rules didn’t apply and that “we in Henan make the rules”.
Tags: Belgium, CCP, censorship, China, corruption, cronyism, Europe, image, international, journalism, media
December 4, 2008 at 5:33 pm
[...] Shanxi Province) municipal party committee’s website of today, concerning VRT journalist Tom van de Weghe’s trip to Shangqiu, Henan Province on November 27. Henan Province denied yesterday that three Belgian journalists had [...]