At least seven journalists who had been sent to cover protests and riots in the Île-de-France region following the police killing of a teenager were attacked on 29 June.
This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 30 June 2023.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the attacks on journalists who have been covering the protests and rioting in response to the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old youth identified as Nahel in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre.
At least seven journalists who had been sent to cover unrest and incidents in the Île-de-France region that includes Paris and in the east of the country were attacked on 29 June.
“The attacks on journalists covering the urban violence are completely unacceptable. Everything must be done so that they can continue to guarantee the right to news and information with the utmost safety.”
Pavol Szalai, Head of the EU-Balkans desk
Freelance photographer Corentin Fohlen was physically attacked during clashes that erupted in Nanterre after a protest march and continued during the night. An individual hit Fohlen’s helmeted head with a cobblestone while he was taking photos for the national daily Libération. After he fell to the ground, several people tried to take his helmet and someone stole the camera he tried to use to defend himself.
Also in Nanterre, the suburb where Nahel lived, a reporter for the Figaro newspaper was roughed up and his phone was taken. Another Figaro reporter who was trying to provide live coverage of the violence taking place in Porte de Saint-Ouen, in northern Paris, was threatened by a man with what resembled a firearm.
A group of ten people who were damaging installations in Nanterre hit a Bloomberg news agency journalist and injured a reporter for another media outlet, who had to be hospitalised.
At least two reporters were attacked during huge spontaneous protests in the eastern city of Besançon. One of them, a freelancer working for Radio BIP/Média 25, who is known by the pseudonym of Toufik-de-Planoise, received a blow to the head with a crowbar that required seven stitches. Emma Audrey, a journalist reporting for the same community radio station, received a blow that smashed her helmet. She would have been subjected to further violence if other persons had not intervened.
France is ranked 24th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
