Five journalists were punched, pulled, insulted, kicked and even whipped yesterday by a mob of supporters of the ruling party Free Peru on the outskirts of the Congress of the Republic, while the vote of confidence for the Cabinet of Aníbal Torres was being debated.
Carlos Huamán, cameraman for Latina, narrated that initially the press men who covered the demonstration outside Parliament were protected by a police cordon. But at one point the agents moved and they were trapped among the hundreds of government supporters. “A group of people closed me and that’s when the pulling, hitting and pushing began.”, he counted. Huamán was knocked down and his camera was broken.
Soon after, as they threw bottles and sticks into the air, the photographer of “Caretas” Romina Solórzano it was brutally dragged by the hair and suffered blows.
John Reyes, photographer of “The Republic”, who received blows, pulls and ended up with broken glasses, said that when he was trying to photograph the attack against Solórzano, a subject pulled his hair from behind. “The same one who attacked my partner from ‘Caretas’ was the one who pulled my hair. I managed to take a picture of him. I confronted him and in that he threw a punch at me and hid among the people, and grabbed the peasants who were there as a shield, ”he said.
Diego Vértiz, photographer of “Diario Uno”, narrated that when the police withdrew to another area, the pro-government demonstrators began to insult them. “More than 20 journalists stayed locked up among people from Peru Libre. In that they begin to attack the Latina cameraman and suddenly a person comes with a patrolman’s whip and attacks us. I received four blows to the chest and shoulder and another bounced off my camera”, he narrated.
According to Press and Society Institute (IPYS)another journalist who works for an international agency was pushed, scratched and hit.
“IPYS protests these acts of violence against reporters, which are intended to harm the coverage of topics of high public interest, violating the right to information and putting the safety of journalists at risk.”, expressed that organization.
They ask for investigation
The The Ombudsman’s Office rejected the attacks against journalists and asked for sanctions. “We demand that the prosecution investigate and thus punish those responsible. Violence is not justified in a democratic society. It is the duty of the State to protect women and men from the press”, he specified on Twitter.
The attacked journalists filed the respective police complaint. the PNP
Among the protesters who gathered outside Congress there were also supporters of Together for Peru and others who called for the closure of Parliament.
Throughout the afternoon there were several clashes between the protesters and the police. The former unsuccessfully tried to block traffic on Av. Abancay.
Other attacks on the press
Earlier this year, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP) reported that Peruvian journalists and media outlets suffered 206 attacksmostly threats and physical and verbal aggression.
In a releaseit was reported that in the most critical moments of the 2021 electoral campaign, journalists suffered 30 attacks, while the vote for the presidency and the second electoral round between the former candidate Keiko Fujimori and the current president, Pedro Castillo.
The attack against journalists with the highest incidence during the year was the threat/harassment with 61 casesfollowed by physical and verbal aggression with 58 and judicial intimidation with 31 incidents, indicated the ANP.
The most frequent aggressors were civilians, who led 99 attacks; followed by officials (41), security agents (31), unidentified elements (25) and employers (10).
In August 2021, the TV Peru journalist, Tifanny Tipiani, was mistreated by Pedro Castillo’s security agents. This happened after the president met with the mayor of Lima, Jorge Muñoz. Recently, President Castillo described the press as a “joke”, after a journalist asked him about the meetings with the businesswoman and lobbyist Karelim López.
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