Police damaged the camera of Guardian photographer Dan Chung as they tried to prevent him taking pictures of the aftermath of a pro-Tibet protest at the Ethnic Minorities Culture Park near the Olympic Green in Beijing.
Police told Chung that neither his visible IOC accreditation nor the Olympic stickers on the equipment were of any of their concerns. A man in yellow-and-red clothing first blocked Chung’s lens while he tried to photograph the bicycles that the protesters had tried to use as a barricade. After police set up a cordon around the demonstration, Chung followed instructions and stayed behind the line. Chinese in civilian clothes photographed all journalists covering the demonstration None of the photographers present were detained, but they were prevented from doing their work. He said the police broke the built-in flash on his Nikon camera as they jostled him.
“This was bad policing,” said Chung. “I mean, we stayed behind their line and still we were not allowed to do our work.”