The Winter Olympics in Beijing have just begun and the concerns over the foreign media restrictions appear to be coming true.
A live report from NOS, the main government funded media station in the Netherlands, was cut short when the CCP came in and ended a live broadcast from Beijing.
A Twitter user claims that this is what is being spoken in Dutch in the clip:
- We are going to China, to our correspondent Sjoerd. Sjoerd, you are near the stadium, what is China gonna show in the next hours?
- Yeah, well, we are getting pulled away, as you might notice, we have also been forced to leave another area, so i fear we'll have to get back to you later.
Allegedly, the reporter, Sjoerd den Daas, was set up in a location that was not designated as a an area by the Chinese government for use by foreign media even though he was reportedly just outside of the "Bird's Nest," the national stadium where the Opening Ceremonies were being held.
NOS posted on Twitter after the incident (translated to English):
Our correspondent [den Daas] was pulled away from the camera by security guards at 12:00 p.m. [6:00 a.m. ET] live in the NOS Journaal. Unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming a daily reality for journalists in China. He is fine and was able to finish his story a few minutes later.
It's still unclear exactly the reason why den Daas was interrupted and bullied.