AFP
August 13, 2008

Beijing, August 13 - Chinese police dragged a British journalist
along the ground and detained him after he tried to report on a
pro-Tibet protest near the main Olympic stadium, witnesses told AFP.

Uniformed police pounced on John Ray, the China correspondent for
Independent Television News (ITN), shortly after a group of foreign
protesters unfurled a pro-Tibet banner, the reporter and another ITN
staff member said.

The protesters were arrested within seconds and Ray was dragged into
a nearby restaurant and forcibly held down by officers who also
stamped on his hands, they said.

"I tried to explain to them that I was a British journalist but they
would not even let me take out my identifiction documents, they were
very rough," Ray said.

ITN cameraman Ben England said he tried to film the protest but was
physically prevented from doing so by police who manhandled him and
used umbrellas to try to block his camera.