The reporter who was attacked by police had previously been praised by the Deputy Prime Minister.
While working in Dak Lak, reporter Do Thanh Hai (VTC News) had previously been encouraged and praised by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam as a good journalist. However, yesterday morning in the same province, he was brutally attacked by a group of police officers, resulting in his hospitalization...
As Dan Viet newspaper reported, on the morning of September 21, Mr. Do Van Xuyen - Head of the Krong Puk District Police (Dak Lak) confirmed that some police officers of Cu Po commune (Krong Puk district) had acted inappropriately when they asked Mr. Do Thanh Hai - a VTC News reporter - to leave the area where the forced eviction was taking place.
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| Mr. Hai during a reporting trip with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam. |
Accordingly, the local authorities carried out a forced eviction to clear the land for the construction of the Nam Tan village cultural center. Upon learning of the incident, Mr. Hai and several other reporters went to the scene to observe. Mr. Hai met with Mr. Nguyen Viet Mui, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Cu Po commune, who was in charge of the eviction, to request permission to report on the event.
However, as soon as he arrived, before he could even present his documents, Mr. Mui shouted into a handheld loudspeaker, calling for Mr. Le Tuan Anh - the Chief of Police of the commune - to come and inspect and confiscate Mr. Hai's camera. Immediately afterward, a commune police officer rushed forward and pushed Mr. Hai out, while several other police officers and commune militia members also rushed in to subdue him and confiscate his camera.
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| Mr. Hai at the hospital |
According to the video recorded at the scene, Mr. Hai was violently shoved by about a dozen police officers and security guards, had his camera snatched, was grabbed by the neck, and pinned to the ground amidst the shouts of the forces involved in the forced eviction.
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| Reporter Thanh Hai (wearing a black jacket) was apprehended by local police and militia, who confiscated his camera. |
It's worth noting that Mr. Hai was very frail, standing 1.71m tall but weighing only 50kg, so he couldn't withstand the rough handling by the group of police and militia members. After the incident, his colleagues took him to Buon Ho Town General Hospital in a state of general body aches, dizziness, and high blood pressure.
Earlier, on August 7th, when Hai accompanied Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam's delegation on a working trip to Dak Lak, the Deputy Prime Minister, seeing his dedication to his work, personally spoke with him, encouraged him, and praised him as a good journalist.
On the afternoon of September 21, the Department of Information and Communications of Dak Lak province announced that it would investigate the incident to determine appropriate action.
According to Danviet.vn
