‘Maliciously playing victim': China on BBC journalist being detained at protests

Covid Protests In China: Chinese police beat a BBC journalist in Shanghai and briefly arrested him while he was covering anti-government lockdown protests.

China's foreign ministry responded to BBC journalist being detained at Shanghai protest saying that the BBC was maliciously playing the victim, Reuters reported.

Covid Protests In China: Barricades erected along Wulumuqi Road, a site of earlier protests, in Shanghai, China. (Bloomberg)

Chinese police beat a BBC journalist in Shanghai and briefly arrested him while he was covering anti-government lockdown protests. Ed Lawrence was detained at the main protest in the city on Sunday, and held for several hours before being freed.

"It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked in this way whilst carrying out his duties," the BBC said.

China's government said Ed Lawrence hadn't presented his press credentials while he was filming the crowds at the nation's largest protest in Shanghai at Wulumuqi Middle Road on Sunday.

Footage shared widely on social media showed several police officers grabbing Ed Lawrence and pinning him to the ground. The BBC said he was beaten and kicked by police officers, and then taken away in handcuffs.

BBC said that the treatment of its journalist was "extremely concerning" saying that it had not received an official explanation or apology from China "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."