(FLIP/IFEX) – Journalist Diana Vega and cameraman Jorge Sandoval, both of Canal Caracol television in Pereira, the capital of Risaralda department, were assaulted and threatened by students of Pereira Technical University, during a demonstration on campus. The incident took place in the University’s courtyard at about noon (local time) on 23 March 2006. To cover […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – Journalist Diana Vega and cameraman Jorge Sandoval, both of Canal Caracol television in Pereira, the capital of Risaralda department, were assaulted and threatened by students of Pereira Technical University, during a demonstration on campus.
The incident took place in the University’s courtyard at about noon (local time) on 23 March 2006. To cover the protest, which had already led to confrontations between protestors and riot police, Vega and Sandoval separated, she equipped with a smaller camera in order to film a student who had apparently been injured by police, while the cameraman waited outside the protest area. When Vega returned a few moments later, she found Sandoval surrounded by some 50 students, all wearing hooded tops, who were insulting him and demanding that he hand over his camera to them.
Vega tried to reason with the protesters but was assaulted physically and verbally. Some of the protesters brandished explosives, and one uttered a threat to Vega: “Goddamn bitch, you want to die over a video tape?” The journalist and cameraman were forced to surrender their video tapes, and one of the cameras was seriously damaged.
Speaking with FLIP, the Pereira police commissioner, Colonel Henry Rubio Conde, confirmed the information about the incident as given by Vega, who already had lodged a complaint. He added that the student demonstrations were being held in solidarity with students of Atlantic University, and were not authorized by municipal authorities.
