Chinese guard manhandles Dutch reporter during 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics 

Dutch television reporter Sjoerd den Daas was manhandled during the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. Daas was reporting live during the opening ceremony when he was interrupted by a guard just outside the venue.

Daas continued to report initially as a thorough professional until the guard lugged him away.

The NOS Twitter handle wrote:

"Our correspondent [den Daas] was pulled away from the camera by security guards at 12:00 p.m. [6:00 a.m. ET] live in the NOS Journaal. Unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming a daily reality for journalists in China. He is fine and was able to finish his story a few minutes later."

Meanwhile, NOS editor-in-chief Marcel Gelauff described the incident as 'a painful illustration' of how foreign press members are treated in China.

While the reason for the unacceptable behavior is still uncertain, Gelauff further added that he has not been contacted by Daas yet, could only speculate about the incident through pictures that went viral. Gelauff said:

"Daas has often told and shown that it is difficult as a journalist in China. There is a far-reaching tendency to curtail freedoms, and this may be even stronger because of [COVID-19]. I haven't spoken to Sjoerd yet, but from what I saw on the images, I didn't get the idea that he was in the way."

Delegations that have opted out of 2022 WInter Olympics due to human rights abuses

The ongoing Winter Olympics have attracted heavy criticism for several reasons, the main reason being the human rights abuses, genocide, crimes and atrocities committed in Xinjiang, China. The Chinese media is heavily controlled and public discussions of human rights violations have been quashed.

At least four countries — the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom — announced diplomatic boycotts ahead of the commencement of the 2022 Winter Games over China's human rights record.

Meanwhile, just a day before the Winter Games opening ceremony, India announced that the Indian envoy would not attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that it was regrettable that China has chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics.

The decision was taken a day after a People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier who clashed with Indian Army troops during the Galwan Valley Clash in June of 2020 was made a torchbearer at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic torch relay.