The Hong Kong police said at a regular press conference on Tuesday that another suspect was arrested Monday for assaulting a reporter from the mainland during a recent unlawful assembly at the Hong Kong International Airport.
However, a similar incident happened again at the end of the press conference. About 20 reporters suddenly surrounded a mainland journalist.
The People's Daily reported that she was asked to present her ID, and was accused of being a fake reporter.
She responded and said she was a journalist from Guangdong TV in southern China's Guangdong Province. "I had every right to film at the press conference like any other member of the press."
The journalist told her colleagues: "I have already shown the police my ID. Are you qualified to check my ID?"
Guangdong Television has confirmed her identity as Chen Xiaoqian, the network's bureau chief in Hong Kong, condemning the rude treatment meted out to her.
The job of journalists with mainland backgrounds has become difficult amid the largest protests in Hong Kong in decades.
Earlier, a journalist from the Beijing-based Global Times newspaper was tied up and beaten by protesters at Hong Kong international airport a week ago.
The All-China Journalists Association later on Wednesday released a statement, which strongly condemned unreasonable acts of a few Hong Kong journalists who violate the legitimate rights and interests of journalists and interfere in the normal interviewing activities of other media outlets.
The association said it firmly support journalists' fair interviewing activities and strive to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
"We strongly appeal to the relevant parties in Hong Kong to seriously correct the misdeeds of minority journalists who violate journalists' professional ethics and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of other journalists, and to create a fair, just and free press service environment", the statement added.
Hong Kong police on Wednesday also called on all journalists to respect each other's freedom of news
The police have existing measures to effectively verify reporters' identity, consistent with that of other press conferences of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, Tse Chun-chung, chief superintendent of Hong Kong Police public relations branch, said at the regular press conference.
Every reporter has gone through the verification procedures before entering the press room, Tse said.
