A deputy secretary of Guangdong provincial committee of the Communist Party of China has ordered an investigation into the alleged assault of eight journalists who were trying to report on a fatal car accident.

 

"Anyone who broke the law must be dealt with," Wang Huayuan was quoted by China Daily as saying today.

 

The journalists, from three local newspapers and a TV station, were apparently stopped by security guards and at least one township government staff member at the scene of an accident on a bridge in Guangzhou.

 

It's said they were then dragged into a dark room and beaten in the early hours of Monday just after the accident. Apparently three of them were slightly injured and cameras damaged when the attackers tried to grab their equipment.

 

The car accident caused the deaths of three people in the vehicle, which broke through railings on the Renhe Bridge in Renhe Town, Baiyun District and dropped into the reservoir below.

 

The security guards were sent by the township government to help keep order on the bridge after the accident.

 

A man who reportedly went out from the township government building complex apparently tried to stop medical workers from a local hospital treating the reporters. The township police didn't get to the scene for more than an hour after receiving a call from the journalists for help, local media reported. The police took the journalists away for questioning.

 

Township government officials were not available for comment. Only the director of the general affairs office of the township people's congress talked to the media, expressing regret and blaming poor communication between those involved in the incident.

 

(China Daily September 28, 2006)