RTHK Condemns Rumours Of Brick-holding Reporter

RTHK has dismissed online rumours that one of its video journalists whose gas mask was torn off by police on Sunday had been holding a brick before the incident.

Someone had highlighted a pinkish object lying on the floor around two metres away, claiming that this was a brick that the reporter had dropped.

However, the broadcaster’s Chinese News and Current Affairs department clarified that the object is actually a removable filter that the officer had torn off the journalist’s mask.

A review of video of the incident shows the officer reaching out and yanking the filter off the mask and dropping it onto the floor, where it rolled and bounced around two metres away.

The filter – often used by front line journalists to protect them from the tear gas fired by the police – has a distinctive pink and grey appearance consistent with the object shown on the video.

The news department severely condemned the inaccurate allegation, which it said had twisted the truth and was used to smear the RTHK reporter.

The broadcaster said it reserves all right to take further action.

The incident, which happened in Mong Kok on Sunday, was just one of a number of similar incidents on that day in which reporters had their masks ripped off by police officers.

Several journalists were also shot by non-lethal projectiles apparently fired by police. Others were pepper sprayed at close range, and tear gas canisters were thrown at journalists covering anti-government protests.