British reporter detained at protest for a free Tibet

Students for a Free Tibet provided a photograph of activists protesting in China. Beijing said eight foreigners ''conducting activities against Chinese law'' were stopped by police. (Students for a Free Tibet via Bloomberg News)

BEIJING - As Beijing police scrambled yesterday afternoon to whisk away a group of Free Tibet protesters near the Olympic Park, they also detained and roughed up a British reporter covering the demonstration.

"I was shouting, 'I'm a British journalist,' " John Ray, a correspondent for Britain's Independent Television News, said later. But police dragged Ray into the back of a restaurant and later bundled him into a police van. "It was very forceful, very rough," he said.

The incident is the latest example of a journalist being blocked from reporting in China, despite promises by the government and Olympic officials that the news media would be free to operate during the Games. Several journalists attempting to cover small protests around Beijing have been photographed and manhandled.

Ray's Olympic credentials were in his pocket, but he could not reach them because police had pinned his arms behind him, "one guy holding each arm," he said. Officers pulled off Ray's shoes and then kicked his legs, tripping him.

Officers then pushed him into a police van, throwing in a yellow cloth behind him before they slammed the doors. His hands now free, Ray fished out his Olympic credentials from his pocket. "One officer asked me in English what were my views of Tibet," Ray said. "I told him I was a journalist and didn't have any views."

Ray showed his credentials and, after about 20 minutes, was released. An officer told one of the ITN Chinese staffers, "Didn't you see? He tried to unfurl that banner," pointing to the yellow cloth. Ray denied the allegations.

The protest was organized by Students for a Free Tibet. Seven of the eight protesters were American, and one was a Tibetan Japanese woman who lives in Britain.