Beijing police manhandled a Danish television journalist and his Chinese assistant, knocking their camera to the ground and breaking it as the team tried to cover the crowds lined up to buy tickets during the last round of Olympic ticket sales.
DR Asia Bureau Chief Jan Larsen said the crew’s camera and monopod were broken; they could not resume filming after police shoved them away from the media zone around the ticket-buying area. Larsen said the interference took place as crowds began to get angry over chaos in the queues, and was one of several reported incidents of police tussling with media who were trying to cover the ticket sales.
“It was the usual conduct of the police in situations where things get out of control,” said Larsen, who observed that authorities were trying to stop TV media from filming the situation “rather than finding solutions to the chaos that was emerging.”