3 with Japanese news agency assaulted in Beijing

Three employees from the Japanese news agency Kyodo were assaulted in their Beijing hotel room as they tried to cover a rehearsal of a military parade celebrating 60 years of China's communist rule, the news agency said Saturday.

The three were kicked and made to kneel Friday evening at the Beijing Hotel, close to Tiananmen Square at the heart of Beijing, Kyodo reported.

Yasushi Kato, bureau chief of the Kyodo News Beijing office, told The Associated Press several men stormed into the hotel room after one of the journalists opened the door, but they did not identify themselves. Kyodo reported they destroyed two computers by throwing them into the corridor.

Kato said a reporter and a cameraman were Japanese and the third was a Chinese assistant.

China has been preparing for the Oct. 1 celebration with tightened security.

On Friday afternoon, police cleared streets and office buildings in parts of the capital before parade floats, tanks and trucks bearing intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled toward the square for the late-night rehearsal.

Some foreign media were told not to film and photograph the parade. AP Television News carried a live feed of military convoys, but China's Foreign Ministry asked it to stop.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she had not heard about the Kyodo case and said the ministry had not asked news agencies not to take photos of the parade.

A woman at the information office of the Beijing Public Security Bureau said she had not heard about the case.

An employee at the front desk of the Beijing Hotel said the hotel had asked guests not to stand on the balconies to watch the rehearsal, but they could watch from inside their rooms. He did not give his name.

Kato said the Kyodo employees had been on the balcony to watch the rehearsal but had not taken pictures from there. He said they were inside the room when the men entered.

The journalists returned to their office this morning, he said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday a planned rehearsal for Sept. 26 had been called off to avoid further affecting the public.