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BBC Says China Blocked Its English-Language News Website in Hong Kong

BBC Says China Blocked Its English-Language News Website in Hong Kong
Bernadine Racoma

Although China alleges that its citizens have full and free access to the internet, the BBC has accused the country of blocking the British broadcast station’s English-language website. Tensions are very high in Hong Kong right now as pro-democracy protesters are out in the streets, and clashes with police forces are frequent.

The BBC, through Global News Director Peter Horricks, formally complained to Chinese officials about the selective blocking. The BBC pointed out that its English-language website has been available in the region since the coverage of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, although its other services, including its Chinese-language news site, have never been permitted in China.

The British news agency has a long tradition of providing impartial news to readers worldwide, according to Horricks, and any effort to censor its news services reflects the fact that the media outlet provides precise and trusted information. Thus, the BBC maintains that the recent blocking of its English news service in Hong Kong is an act of deliberate censorship on the part of the Chinese authorities. This is the second time that the BBC English-language news site has been blocked in recent years. The first instance occurred in 2012, when the BBC covered the escape of civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng from his house arrest.

BBC Website Block

It was inevitable that clashes between protestors and the police would occur, once the latter started to use forceful means to remove the citizens. The BBC commented that the impetus for the block was a video posted on its site on Wednesday which showed a protester being beaten by the authorities outside a government building. The video footage caused movement leaders and human rights activists (and even politicians) to condemn the act, which they characterized as brutal.

Issues in Hong Kong

The street protests started in late September in reaction to the central government’s announcement that henceforth the Communist Party on the mainland would have veto power over Hong Kong’s electoral candidates for leadership of the territory, which is partly self-governed. The protestors are now calling for their current leader, Leung Chun-ying, to resign from his post. The next election in Hong Kong will not take place until 2017, and Leung Chun-ying claimed that his resignation would not sway the central government’s decision, which angered the protestors once again.

The protests have caused disruption in business and vehicular traffic in Hong Kong, as protestors occupied areas in front of buildings, and along main streets and even parts of bridges. When officers were unable to remove the pro-democracy groups through amicable means, they stepped up their operation to remove the demonstrators from their barricades through the use of chainsaws, pepper spray, and tear gas.

More Protests

On Wednesday, over 45 people were arrested by police officers, who used brute force to remove the demonstrators who continued to block Nathan Road, an important artery on the Kowloon Peninsula. The protest is now 18 days old, and there are ongoing calls from the protesters for demonstrations and street blockades. Unfortunately, police brutality can now be added to their list of grievances against the government.

Image credit: BBC Asian Network Studio copyright by Kaihsu Tai under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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