We Reacted Swiftly To Attack On Reporter, Says Lam

The Chief Executive says her government promptly asked mainland authorities to thoroughly investigate the assault on a Hong Kong reporter in Sichuan - but they cannot make demands on mainland officials.

Carrie Lam said the government is very concerned about the incident, in which Cable TV journalist Chan Ho-fai was beaten up by two men while covering the 10th anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake on Saturday. Lam said the Mainland Affairs Minister, Patrick Nip, was in a car in Sichuan as part of the SAR delegation to the ceremonies, and immediately called the national and provincial Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Offices to follow up.

Lam said she can't use her position as Chief Executive to tell her Sichuan counterparts what they need to do, but she wanted to make clear that the legal rights of Hong Kong journalists to report need to be respected, and their personal safety safeguarded.

Following the assault, Sichuan authorities arranged for the attackers to publicly apologise to Chan. The incident took place after the reporter had covered a ceremony at the site of a collapsed school in Dujiangyan.

One of the two men said he was agitated when he saw Chan reporting on the "scars and memories" of the tragedy. He said his family members were injured in the earthquake, but he hadn't intended to attack the reporter.