the australian ambassador to china has been blocked from entering a court in beijing to witness the trial of the australian journalist, cheng lei. the australian foreign ministry had asked that a representative be able to attend the hearing. cheng lei, a presenter for a state owned english language television channel, was detained in august 2020 and subsequently charged with supplying state secrets. the united nations is seeking almost $4.5 billion to fund humanitarian operations in afghanistan. the appeal, at a conference in geneva on thursday, is the largest the un has made for a single country, and is three times the amount requested last year. afghanistan is mired in a deepening humanitarian crisis. drought and the international sanctions imposed following the taliban s seizure of power have exacerbated an already perilous situation.
intent on keeping the trial under rest. our reporter was intent on covering it. he was roughed up by police as he and his crew attempted to approach the courthouse. they recorded the assault on camera. this is what happened. man handling us. we re heading towards a court in beijing where a prominent activist goes on trial today. this is a public space. there s no need to shout at me. just behind us the name of the activate is chou zerong. the reason he s in trial he had a gathering of people several times and was one of the founders of the new citizens movement. that is why there are all these police surrounding me here. we re going to go try look at the entrance of the court, which is just here. sorry. you can t stop me. this is a public place. this is a public place. why must i wait? your passport. this is a public space. this is a public space. excuse me. you don t push me. do not push me. this is a public space.
under raps. however, cnn s david mckenzie was determined to cover it. he was roughed up by police as he and his crew attempted to approach the courthouse. they recorded the assault on camera. here s part of what happened. we re heading towards a court in beijing, where a prominent activist goes on trial today. this is a public space. there s no need to shout at me. just behind us the name of the activate is chou zerong. the reason he s in trial he had a gathering of people several times and was one of the founders of the new citizens movement. that is why there are all these police surrounding me here. we re going to go try look at the entrance of the court, which is just here. sorry. you can t stop me. this is a public place. this is a public place. why must i wait? your passport. this is a public space. this is a public space. excuse me. you don t push me.
reporter: so, we re heading towards a court in beijing where prominent activist goes on trial today wait a moment, please. please! reporter: why? is this a public space. there is no need to shout at me. the courthouse is just behind us. the name of the activist is chu ji wong, and the reason he is on trial is because he had a gathering several times, one of the founders of the new citizens movement. that is why there are all these police surrounding me here. we re going to go try to look at the entrance of the court, which is just here hello. reporter: sorry, you can t stop me. it s all right. all right. reporter: this is a public place. huh? this is a public space. this is a public space. excuse me. you don t push me. do not push me. this is a public space. don t hit me like this. this is a public they re physically manhandling us. they re physically manhandling me. this is a public space. i m allowed to report.
he was roughed up by police as he and his crew attempted to approach the courthouse. they recorded the assault on camera. this is what happened. man handling us. we re heading towards a court in beijing where a prominent activist goes on trial today. this is a public space. there s no need to shout at me. the recorder is just behind us. just behind us the name of the activate is chou zerong. the reason he s in trial he had a gathering of people several times and was one of the founders of the new citizens movement. that is why there are all these police surrounding me here. we re going to go try look at the entrance of the court, which is just here. sorry. you can t stop me. this is a public place. this is a public place. why must i wait? your passport. this is a public space. this is a public space. excuse me. you don t push me. do not push me. this is a public space. don t hit me like this. this is a public space. they re physically man handling us. they re physically man handl