U.S. Journalist Believed Held in China

By SYLVIA HUI

HONG KONG – A U.S. photojournalist is believed to have been detained by authorities in a southern Chinese village, where riot police freed officials held hostage by residents protesting the arrest of an anti-corruption activist, the photographer’s father said Sunday.

The freelance journalist, Danfung Dennis, on Sunday morning called his sister, who lives in Beijing, from the village, saying he thought that police were about to detain him and that she should notify the U.S. Embassy, his father, John Dennis, told The Associated Press.

The journalist had sent his sister a text message on Saturday night saying that residents were hiding him in Dongzhou, a village in Guangdong province, the father said.

Danfung Dennis was not answering his mobile phone Sunday.

“We also called the hotel where he said he was going to stay. They said they were expecting him back 1 a.m. but he didn’t turn up,” said the father, who called AP in Hong Kong from Ithaca, New York.

“We really have no idea where he is,” he said, adding that Danfung, 25, has done freelance work for The New York Times but that his son didn’t say who sent him to cover the protest.

Susan N. Stevenson, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said the U.S. Consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou was looking into the report but has not been able to confirm it.

The AP called two cell phone numbers used by Danfung, who has also freelanced for the news agency. Both phones were switched off.

On Saturday, a large group of riot police moved into Dongzhou and rescued eight officials held hostage by residents demanding the release of an activist, Chen Qian, arrested last week for protesting corruption.

The official Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday there were no injuries or conflicts during the police operation. Xinhua reported that the officials were taken hostage because villagers were unhappy about the arrest of Chen, who the report said had assaulted one of the officials “over trifles.”

Xinhua didn’t mention the reported arrest of the journalist. Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Daily newspaper reported Sunday that a foreign journalist was taken away and three villagers were also arrested.

Last year, police shot dead three protesters and wounded eight others when they clashed in protests over land disputes in Dongzhou.

Thousands of villagers protested inadequate compensation for land seized by the local government to build the power plant. Authorities say police opened fire after they were attacked by demonstrators armed with knives, spears and explosives.

Reporters working in China are frequently detained or harassed by police for covering sensitive news, including village protests and corruption scandals.