The Chinese government has blocked access in the country to the BBC’s English-language websites.
The blocking of all BBC English language internet pages would appear to be in response to Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” civil disobedience movement, protesting for fair representation in Chinese elections. Earlier today, the BBC had published video of Hong Kong police assaulting and arresting a protestor which had been circulating online.
In a statement, BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said: “The BBC strongly condemns any attempts to restrict free access to news and information and we are protesting to the Chinese authorities. This appears to be deliberate censorship. The BBC provides impartial, trusted news to millions of people around the world, and attempts to censor our news services show just how important it is to get our accurate information to them.”
News of the blocking was first announced today by GreatFire.org, a site which monitors web censorship in China in real time. Access to the BBC websites has previously been allowed in China, although the BBC’s Chinese language website has been blocked since its launch. The BBC reported that the last time the BBC’s English-language site was blocked was during its coverage of activist Chen Guangcheng’s escape from house arrest in April 2012.
Instagram, which had been used by Hong Kong protestors to share images, was blocked in China at the end of September. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are also inaccessible from mainland China.