HKJA demands explanation from police for seizing travel documents of former journalist

The Hong Kong Journalists Association demands an explanation from the police after it has confiscating the travel documents of a former online media journalist who captured on camera the process of a man attacking a policeman on July 1.

Police visited the former journalist's residence at 11.00pm yesterday, requesting her to take her statement at a police station without notifying her lawyer and the HKJA.

The former journalist later called her lawyer when accompanied by policemen from the National Security Department, stating that she did not need the lawyer's presence. She then proceeded to take her statement with the presence of one of her friends, and was later taken back to her residence for evidence gathering.

The HKJA's lawyer was allowed to accompany the former journalist at 1.00am today at Chai Wan Police Station after mediation between the association and the police.

The association stressed that journalists are merely doing their duty when recording the process of a suspected crime and should not have received the treatment the former journalist has got, stating that the police promised the former journalist that it would contact her through her lawyer, and that her role is to assist investigations when she took a statement at the Hong Kong Police Headquarters in Wan Chai on July 2.

It further stated that the actions taken by the police's National Security Department is threatening and may cause fear among journalists.

A man died after he assaulted a policeman with a knife at Causeway Bay on July 1 and then stabbed himself. 

Government officials have designated this incident as a “lone wolf terrorist act”, and it has been under investigation by the police's national security department.