Paris-based newsman John Leicester scored an only-on-AP all-formats win in coverage of Hong Kong’s democracy protests, revealing that medics are secretly banding together to privately treat injured protesters who fear arrest if they go to government-run hospitals. The exclusive also showed that government figures significantly underestimate the true extent of injuries. One of the “hidden healers” agreed to go on camera, generating impressive online and broadcast play.
AP reveals underground treatment for Hong Kong wounded
An organizer of an underground network of volunteer Hong Kong medics shows an X-ray image on her mobile phone that revealed a fracture above the left wrist of a protester in Hong Kong, Oct. 7, 2019. The 22-year-old protester, too scared to seek treatment in government hospitals, reached out to the network using an encrypted messaging app and said he’d been struck by a baton on his arm.
AP Photo / John Leicester