Beijing ( CNN ) -- China rejected American criticism of its treatment of journalists Tuesday , two days after several foreign reporters , including CNN staff , were manhandled by Chinese security forces . `` As far as I understand , journalists did not follow relevant procedures in advance of Sunday . Police were there to provide reasonable guidance , '' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday . `` China protects foreign journalists ' lawful rights within the law , '' she said , adding that the ministry hopes `` journalists understand that it takes two sides -- both the government and the journalists -- to understand each other , and patiently handle the situation . '' The U.S. ambassador to China said Monday that American and other foreign journalists were `` illegally detained or harassed as they attempted to do their jobs '' while covering protests in downtown Beijing over the weekend . Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. said in a statement that one reporter was `` severely beaten and detained for many hours . '' `` I call on the Chinese government to hold the perpetrators accountable for harassing and assaulting innocent individuals and ask that they respect the rights of foreign journalists to report in China , '' he said . Journalists including CNN 's Eunice Yoon and Jo Ling Kent were physically harassed by Chinese security Sunday as they planned to cover a protest -- which never took place , perhaps because of heavy police presence . They were shoved , dragged and at times carried away from the scene . Their cameras were confiscated and footage was deleted , and a press card was taken away from Yoon , who wrested it back from an officer who refused to give his name . `` We found out many other journalists were treated the same and , in some cases , much worse , '' Yoon wrote . `` A former colleague and friend of mine , Steve Engle of Bloomberg News , had been dragged into an alley by several police who beat him up . He ended up at the hospital . '' The heavy security was a response to a second weekend in a row of anonymous calls by organizers for a pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing . Hundreds of Chinese police officers along with more than 120 vehicles flooded Beijing 's central pedestrian shopping area , Wangfujing , on Sunday , around the site of a second attempted `` jasmine '' rally inspired by pro-democracy protests in Tunisia . There was no sign of protest as the police deployed unusual tactics to prevent demonstrations .
Journalists and the government must see each others ' point of view , the foreign ministry says . Reporters including CNN 's Eunice Yoon and Jo Ling Kent were roughed up on Sunday . They were trying to cover a planned anti-government protest . Heavy police presence dissuaded demonstrators .