Hong Kong protests: journalist blinded in one amid escalating attacks on media

An Indonesian journalist hit in the face by a rubber bullet during protests in Hong Kong has been permanently blinded in one eye, her lawyer said, the most serious injury among the media since the movement began in June.

Adding to concerns about police tactics, a leaked memo showed authorities had relaxed guidelines on using lethal force the day before a teenage student shot in the chest by police.

Police have insisted the officer was acting lawfully in self defence, and the 18-year-old was charged with rioting and assaulting a police officer on Thursday, The Guardian reported.

There are growing concerns about the threat to journalists from the escalating violence, and an increasingly hostile climate that saw one reporter arrested on Tuesday, after several others were injured by police and one by protesters in a day of chaotic violence. All were wearing high-visibility jackets and “press” markings.

Indonesian Veby Indah was injured during protests two days earlier, while standing with colleagues on an overpass, filming a livestream. Police opened fire at relatively short range towards the group; footage shows someone shouting a warning “hey it’s journalists on this side”, but seconds later she was hit and collapsed to the ground.

She was later told that damage to her right eye was irreversible. “Doctors treating Ms Indah have informed her that regrettably the injury she received as a result of being shot by police, will result in permanent blindness in her right eye,” her lawyer Michael Vidler said in a statement late on Wednesday.

“She was informed that the pupil of her eye was ruptured by the force of the impact. The exact percentage of permanent impairment can only be assessed after surgery”.

The 39-year-old is an associate editor of Suara Hong Kong News, a local outlet which serves the city’s Indonesian community.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it would investigate Vedy’s case. “We are particularly concerned ... [because] the journalist was not in the immediate vicinity of protesters at the time of the incident, she was clearly identifiable as being a member of the press and was with a number of other journalists at the time also wearing high visibility press markings.”

The “one country, two systems” arrangement put in place when Hong Kong returned from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty protects freedom of the press, and the protests have been covered by hundreds of local and international reporters.