While a Dutch television reporter was doing a live broadcast at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, he was suddenly grabbed by Chinese officials on Friday. The said scene was caught in a video as the live broadcast has been interrupted.
In a Twitter post from the Dutch station, NOS Journal, they said that “Our correspondent was pulled away from the camera by security guards at 12:00 pm live in the NOS Journaal, unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming a daily reality for journalists in China. He is fine and was able to finish his story a few minutes later.”
The Dutch reported was then identified as Sjoerd den Daas, he was doing a live cross on Friday for the Winter Games when a security guard stepped in front of the camera and began to push him away.
In the video, den Daas attempts to continue the broadcast before he eventually is forced to stop. As the camera zooms out, several other guards are seen standing nearby.
“We are now being pulled out of here,” the report said, via a translation from Insider. “We have just been expelled from another area, so I’m afraid we’ll have to come back to you later.”
Onze correspondent @sjoerddendaas werd om 12.00u live in het NOS Journaal door beveiligers voor de camera weggetrokken. Helaas is dit steeds vaker de dagelijkse realiteit voor journalisten in China. Hij is in orde en kon zijn verhaal gelukkig een paar minuten later afmaken pic.twitter.com/GLTZRlZV96
— NOS (@NOS) February 4, 2022
The interruption came from a man wearing a black jacket and a red band around the sleeve which appears to distinguish him as a ‘Public Security Volunteer’, a citizen-led neighborhood watch established to help police maintain order.
It’s unclear what prompted Chinese officials to interrupt den Daas in the middle of his broadcast. Some came into speculation that NOS many not provided their official permit to allow them to film. But instead of pulling them, they could have asked them nicely to show their permit, however; Chinese officials flex their power and physically assaulted the reporter.
China should never be allowed to host an Olympic event ever again.
The games are already facing heavy criticism due to the well-documented human rights abuses in China. The Chinese media is heavily controlled and public discussions of the human rights violation are quashed.
Sources: The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, People, Daily Mail, The Week