Unacceptable police violence against journalists covering demonstrations
Published on Thursday 9 December 2010.
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Reporters Without Borders calls on the Greek authorities to publicly condemn cases of police violence against journalists during the demonstrations of the past few weeks and to give the police clear instructions not to use violence against media personnel in the future. The press freedom organization also demands an investigation into the recent cases.The level of violence employed by the police has been outrageous. Journalists said they were thrown to the ground and beaten, or were prevented from working by use of physical force. The police have also forced some journalists, including the Reporters Without Borders correspondent, to delete the photographs they had taken.
“Journalists have a duty to provide the public with coverage of newsworthy events including demonstrations,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The police should not treat them as if they were demonstrators. Furthermore, the police have no right to demand that they are not photographed while performing official duties. If they are behaving in a strictly legal manner, they should have nothing to hide.”
In one of the latest cases, Belgian news photographer Maxime Gyselinck was thrown to the ground and repeatedly hit by police at around 7:30 p.m. on 6 December on Benaki Street in the Athens district of Exarchia. When Greek freelance photographer Vangelis Patsialos went to help him, he was treated in exactly the same way.
The police finally stopped hitting them when they realised they were journalists. One of the policemen then advised them to go to a hospital. Gyselinck was diagnosed with a fractured arm that was put in a plaster and a cracked rib, and was told to stop working for two weeks.
The Reporters Without Borders correspondent in Greece was physically accosted by police several times on 6 December while photographing the way anti-riot police were using violence against protesters. The police ordered to delete her photos but she refused to comply.
In an earlier case, Agence France-Presse photographer Aristotelis Messinis was manhandled by police three times while covering a demonstration in Athens on 17 November. He filed a complaint.
The demonstrations taking place on 6 December, which were dispersed by anti-riot police, were to mark the second anniversary of the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old youth who was shot dead by the police in the Athens district of Exarchia in 2008.
Greece was ranked 70th in this year’s Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, a sharp fall from last year, when it was ranked 35th.
Source;
http://en.rsf.org/greece-unacceptable-police-violence-09-12-2010,39000.html
Another day of violence against journalists covering protests
Published on Thursday 6 October 2011.Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the fact that, although clearly identified, many journalists were attacked by police officers while covering yesterday’s anti-austerity protests and strikes in Athens. 
“From one demonstration to the next, police violence against journalists seems to be becoming an inescapable part of the Greek crisis,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Yesterday’s incidents unfortunately show that nothing has improved since we issued an alarm. Will there have to be fatalities before the authorities end the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these violent and often deliberate attacks?”
“From one demonstration to the next, police violence against journalists seems to be becoming an inescapable part of the Greek crisis,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Yesterday’s incidents unfortunately show that nothing has improved since we issued an alarm. Will there have to be fatalities before the authorities end the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these violent and often deliberate attacks?”An AFP photographer who did not want to be named had a tooth broken by a police riot shield that was deliberately rammed into her face. Greek photographer Tatiana Bolari 
told the local TV station Mega that she was punched in the face and insulted. Pascualino Serinelli, a freelance photographer working for Italian and Spanish media, received baton blows to his legs. Tear-gas was also fired at him at close range and his camera was snatched.
told the local TV station Mega that she was punched in the face and insulted. Pascualino Serinelli, a freelance photographer working for Italian and Spanish media, received baton blows to his legs. Tear-gas was also fired at him at close range and his camera was snatched.Jérôme Wesselver, a cameraman working for the Capa agency, had his camera damaged by riot shields. Several other reporters and photographers also reported being hit deliberately by police batons and riot shield.
A court is due tomorrow to begin hearing the lawsuit that the photographer 
Manolis Kypraios has brought against the state because he has completely lost his hearing as a result of the blast of a stun grenade that a police officer threw at him in an alley on 15 August although he identified himself and showed his press card.
Manolis Kypraios has brought against the state because he has completely lost his hearing as a result of the blast of a stun grenade that a police officer threw at him in an alley on 15 August although he identified himself and showed his press card.Now permanently handicapped, Kypraios cannot work and has no income. Reporters Without Borders hopes the lawsuit will encourage the authorities to appreciate the scale of the violence against journalists and take determined action to end the impunity for those responsible.
Reporters Without Borders issued a report about the deterioration in media freedom in Greece on 14 September.
(Pictures: Pascualino Serinelli)
Source
http://en.rsf.org/greece-another-day-of-violence-against-06-10-2011,41135.html
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