Authorities urged to maintain order after government supporters attack 15 journalists
February 22, 2007
Reporters Without Borders today condemned an attack by pro-government Several people were injured when the Reporters Without Borders said it The organisation called on the security In yesterday’s incident, the press was In the attack by demonstrators on the
demonstrators on about 15 journalists who were following a convoy of
supporters of opposition presidential candidate Idrissa Seck of the
Rewmi party and the And Liguey Senegal coalition yesterday in the Dakar
district of Mermoz.
convoy was attacked by followers of Cheikh Bethio Thioune, a marabout
(religious leader) and well-known supporter President Abdoulaye Wade of
the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party, who is running for another term
in elections on 25 February. The journalists’ vehicles were ransacked,
some of their equipment was stolen and some of them were threatened
with knives while police looked on without intervening.
condemned any act of violence against the press and stressed that
governments are obliged to guarantee the safety of journalists in
democracies. The press freedom organisation deplored the fact that
members of the Senegal press were the victims of political rivalry and
were assaulted on the street just three days before the election.
forces and, in particular, interior minister Ousmane Ngom, to prevent
any further outbreaks of violence on the eve of the election and to
ensure adequate security measures for any political activities that
journalists were likely to cover,
following an opposition convoy in two vehicles. One of them was a
minibus containing about 10 journalists working for privately-owned
media, including Radio Futurs Médias (RFM), the Walfadjri group, the
daily Le Populaire and radio Océan FM.
minibus, laptops and mobiles phones were taken, one of the journalists
received a blow from a club and another was hit by a thrown stone. The
journalists finally fled while the demonstrators torched the minibus.
At one point, a woman journalist working for radio Walfadjri was
surrounded by a group of very threatening assailants and only managed
to get away after a friend in the crowd intervened.
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