HÀ NỘI – Nguyễn Đức Chung, chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee, has asked the director of the Hà Nội police to urgently clarify the incident related to the attack on two journalists on Sunday.

Yesterday, the media reported that two reporters, one from Việt Nam Television Corporation (VTC) and the other from Pháp Luật Việt Nam (Việt Nam Law) newspaper, were assaulted by a group of hooligans during an operation in the concentrated animal slaughter area in Hà Nội’s Thanh Oai District.

The two journalists are Nguyễn Tùng, working for VTC, and Phạm Hiển from Pháp Luật Việt Nam newspaper.

According to Tùng, the group used hard objects hit his and Hiển’s head and then arbitrarily took their personal documents and mobile phones.

Tùng was hospitalised at Bạch Mai Hospital in a state of emergency. He complained of dizziness and had trouble breathing following the attack.

According to him, there were several witnesses at the scene.

The chairman asked the police to investigate the incident and strictly deal with the case in accordance with the law. They were also asked to report to the committee before November 20.

Two more journalists in Thái Nguyên Province were reportedly attacked on Monday, when they went to Đại Từ District to report on the sand exploitation.

They are Đặng Văn Nghịnh, 35, and Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, 33, working for a provincial television channel.

Nghịnh said two young men asked them not to make the film and ordered them to delete all images in the camera while they were filming in Quân Chu Commune.

The men also threatened to break their cameras if they did not stop their operation, Nghịnh said.

When they refused to cooperate, the journalists were hit with sticks.

Following the hostile behavior of the young men, the journalists ran into a nearby house. They reported the incident to police and local authorities and urged them to intervene.

The incident is under investigation. – VNS