The Olympics = a Debacle

Check out this blog post over at ESPN.com about a freelancer assaulted by a group of Chinese citizens:

Some of the policemen walked toward me and grabbed me by the arm. They were angry and aggressive while holding on to me, yelling in my face. But I still kept yelling, “TV! Media! Press! TV! Media! Press!” The policemen were speaking into their walkie-talkies, but I didn’t understand what they were saying.

I then went back to the bottom of the hill and took more pictures. By that point, a fire truck pulled up and moved a cherry picker up the pole to try to bring down the protester. The same civilian came down the hill and started screaming at me again. Some of the onlookers joined in, and I was circled by people who started pushing and shoving me, screaming and pointing to the stadium. I never got hit or punched, but I was definitely physically accosted. I was trying to be smart about it and I wasn’t hitting anyone, but I kept yelling, “Media! Press!”

Of course, according to Newsweek, we shouldn’t point out events like this because it will hurt China’s feelings. Yeah, wouldn’t want to hurt the feelings of a murderous dictatorial regime hellbent on limiting freedom of speech and furthering genocide in Darfur. That would be just awful.