Journalists were attacked while covering protests in Solomon Islands.
This statement was originally published on the Pacific Freedom Forum Facebook page on 25 November 2021.
Ongoing protests in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, has led to the mistreatment/harassment of media covering the issue at hand.
The Pacific Freedom Forum is urging authorities and protesters to respect the media who are working to inform the public about the unfortunate events taking place in the city.
Journalists on location were attacked with tear gas, rubber bullets and stones while protestors advanced towards the Solomon Islands Parliament house.
While, we understand, this was done to disperse protesters, said journalists were merely in the line of fire due to the nature of their job, as frontliners. The assault on members of the media is an assault on democracy.
MASI President, Georgina Kekea, spoke out on the issue at hand pleading for people to simply allow the media to do its job.
PFF chair, Bernadette Carreon, urged authorities to protect the local journalists who are getting crucial news to the public about the protests. “The media should be allowed to do their job unharmed.”
