A reporter, a cameraman and an assistant working for Japan’s Kyodo News Agency in Beijing were on Friday assaulted by Chinese authorities who stormed their hotel room around 8 p.m., Kyodo News have reported.

Kyodo News alleged that the authorities kicked the three media professionals and hit them on the head to make them kneel down. They also threw two computers out of the room into the corridor, destroying them, the agency said.

The journalists were staying at Beijing Hotel on Chang’an Avenue, next to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, to cover a rehearsal for the 1 October National Day Parade.

This year the military parade will mark 60 years of Communist rule in China.

Kyodo News Agency told IPI by phone that the journalists were not badly injured in the attack and that the reason for the assault remained unclear.

“A spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the journalists violated the regulations,“ a representative of Kyodo News’ Beijing office told IPI. “However it was not specified which regulations. We have issued a complaint to the authorities.“

The Kyodo News representative added that for the moment the agency preferred to withhold the names of the media professionals involved.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a press release on its Website that more than a dozen of its members had reported receiving phone calls in recent weeks warning them not to photograph or interview people in or around Tiananmen Square in the run-up to the anniversary. However, no written regulations in this regard had been issued by the Foreign Ministry.

“The brutal manner in which these journalists were treated reinforces the fact that no matter how successful the economy, the Chinese government retains a deep-seated fear of the media’s democratic right to report free of harassment and intimidation,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “We urge the Chinese authorities to investigate the alleged assault and to bring any perpetrators to justice.”

On Tuesday, Kyodo News Agency reported that China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, speaking to reporters at a regular press briefing, “said the ministry had communicated the concerns of Kyodo News to ‘relevant sides’ in Beijing and could not yet draw any conclusions on the matter.”