Police probe assault after TVB news reporter slapped in face as she filmed overloaded passengers at Hong Kong's Sha Tin MTR
Alleged attacker also swatted journalist's phone to the ground
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 04 October, 2015, 9:47pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 04 October, 2015, 11:07pm
Gloria Chan and Allen Au-yeung
The woman (in white) during the altercation with the TVB reporter on Saturday.
Police have launched a criminal investigation into an assault on a TVB news reporter by a 39-year-old woman at Sha Tin railway station on Saturday evening.
Chan Ka-yan, 30, was using her phone to film protesters surrounding MTR passengers carrying large items of luggage when she was slapped in the face. The alleged attacker, surnamed Cheung, also swatted her phone to the ground.
Video footage posted online by Truth Media Hong Kong showed Chan immediately displaying her press card and calling: “Where’s my phone? It is very important, I’m a reporter.”
WATCH: TVB journalist assaulted at Sha Tin MTR station (contains strong language)
Protesters surrounded Cheung and shouted at her, saying “you hit a reporter”. Some told her to “go back to mainland China” in foul language, to which she responded in accented Cantonese: “You are a Hongkonger, I am a Hongkonger too.”
When protesters demanded Cheung show her Hong Kong identity card, she waved something around and yelled “look carefully” while shouting obscenities. Cheung – with a large bag on her shoulder and a cardboard box in one hand – left the scene by boarding the East Rail Line accompanied by MTR staff.
Chan was taken by ambulance for a hospital check-up.
In a separate incident at the station, a video circulated on the internet showing a woman trying to block a train door, preventing it from departing and demanding MTR staff measure another passenger’s goods.
Watch: Woman blocks train door at MTR station
“Measure it! Deal with it first!,” she shouted. Staff failed to calm her and she scuffled with them and other passengers.
An MTR spokeswoman said staff measured the item and found that it was not oversized.
