(FLIP/IFEX) – On 1 May 2005 Ariel Díaz Jaramillo, a freelance photographer working for the country’s largest daily, “El Tiempo”, was assaulted by university students in Pereira, a city in the coffee belt in the centre-west of the country. Díaz was taking photographs of the various May Day demonstrations by trade unionists and students. Although […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 1 May 2005 Ariel Díaz Jaramillo, a freelance photographer working for the country’s largest daily, “El Tiempo”, was assaulted by university students in Pereira, a city in the coffee belt in the centre-west of the country.
Díaz was taking photographs of the various May Day demonstrations by trade unionists and students. Although he has been working for “El Tiempo” for eight months, since he is not a permanent employee he was not wearing the special vest normally worn by “El Tiempo” press to clearly identify them as such when covering public events.
However, he did display his “El Tiempo” ID card, but despite doing so, was assaulted. At around 10:00 a.m. (local time), he was struck with sticks, thrown to the ground, kicked and sprinkled with some kind of acidic liquid that blinded him for a few minutes. After a tussle with the demonstrators he managed to escape with the help of onlookers. Díaz’s arm was bruised, but he continued working through the afternoon since he had suffered no serious injuries and his camera was not damaged in the incident.
It appears that the students acted out of fear that the photographs would later be used to identify, harass and harm them, as often happens when photographs are taken at public demonstrations in Colombia.
FLIP condemns the attack on Díaz and asks demonstrators to respect the work performed by journalists during protests.
