FOPEA is concerned by two incidents that took place on 20 December involving attacks on media vehicles in Rosario and San Carlos de Bariloche.
(FOPEA/IFEX) – 20 December 2012 – FOPEA is concerned by two incidents that took place on 20 December 2012 involving media vehicles and equipment in Rosario and San Carlos de Bariloche.
In Rosario, Santa Fe province, someone shot at a Radio 2 vehicle while one of the media outlet’s reporters, Pablo Procopio, was reporting on a small group of people protesting at the intersection of Provincias Unidas and Perón avenues. It was a miracle that Procopio was not injured when the shot shattered the windshield and damaged part of the hood of the vehicle. One of the protesters was struck in the leg by shrapnel.
Procopio was unable to see who fired the shot, but witnesses said it was someone in a car who was trying to get through the protest. It is not known whether the attack was deliberate, but the Radio 2 vehicle was marked with the word “press” and it was the only shot fired.
Procopio told FOPEA that he immediately left the area in the damaged vehicle and tried to take shelter. Police and judicial officials inspected the damage to the car.
In a separate incident, Rodrigo Saliva, a street reporter for TodoNoticias in Bariloche, Río Negro province, had his car destroyed while he was reporting on looting at a supermarket. His journalism equipment was in the car. Many vehicles were attacked, including those belonging to the supermarket’s employees and customers. Saliva’s car was in the store’s parking lot when a group of looters decided to push it over, smash it and then move it onto the road. In addition to the damage to the car, Saliva’s cameras and other equipment were broken.
FOPEA calls on the authorities to investigate these attacks, which impeded the journalists from carrying out their work of informing the public.
(Please note this is an abridged translation.)
