The United Kingdom's foreign secretary has condemned the beating and arrest of a BBC journalist by Chinese authorities. ."The right to assemble and freedom of the press must be respected. No country is exempt from this, said Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Monday..Cleverly added that the arrest of the reporter was "deeply troubling," and journalists must be allowed to do their work "without intimidation.".Cleverly's comments came hours after the BBC said they were "extremely concerned" after their journalist Ed Lawrence was assaulted and arrested while covering the protests in Shanghai. He was held by police for several hours before being released.."During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist," the BBC said in a statement..Hours before his arrest, Lawrence tweeted that he was at the scene of the previous night's "extraordinary" COVID Zero protest in Shanghai. "Many people are gathered here quietly watching. Lots of cops. Two girls laid flowers which were promptly removed by police. One man drove past with middle finger up at police," he said..Footage of Lawrence's arrest on Sunday shows three police officers repeatedly punching and kneeing the journalist before dragging him away..BBC said it was "very worrying" that one of their journalists was attacked while carrying out his duties. "We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught COVID from the crowd. We do not consider this a credible explanation.'.China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian acknowledged Lawrence's arrest, but said he did not identify himself as a journalist before he was led away by police..“China always welcomes foreign journalists to report in the country in accordance with the law and has provided lots of assistance,” Zhao said. “At the same time, foreign journalists should comply with Chinese regulations when they are reporting in China.”.China is currently experiencing its largest anti-government protests since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Thousands of protestors took to the streets over the weekend to express their outrage with China's strict COVID Zero policies..The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the city of Urumqui in the Xinjiang region of the country. Residents had been welded inside their building in an attempt to stop COVID, but were prevented from escaping as the fire spread through the building..China has the second highest number of journalists jailed, after Turkey. Since 2017, China has sent 41 journalists to jail, many of whom were arrested for revealing state secrets.
