(FLIP/IFEX) – Colprensa news agency photojournalist Raúl Arboleda was assaulted by a demonstrator participating in the marches organised by the trade union centrals in Bogotá on 26 September 2006. The incident occurred at 4:00 p.m. (local time) when the demonstrators were beginning their walk from the Plaza de Toros square to Bolívar Plaza in downtown […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – Colprensa news agency photojournalist Raúl Arboleda was assaulted by a demonstrator participating in the marches organised by the trade union centrals in Bogotá on 26 September 2006.
The incident occurred at 4:00 p.m. (local time) when the demonstrators were beginning their walk from the Plaza de Toros square to Bolívar Plaza in downtown Bogotá. Arboleda began to take photographs of the demonstrators in the march when one of them, apparently annoyed about being photographed, hit Arboleda several times on the head with a flag he was carrying.
Arboleda ran off to avoid being hit again. However, he decided to inform one of the people who had organised the demonstration about what had occurred.
According to Arboleda, the demonstration leader with whom he spoke appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and paid no attention to his complaint.
When contacted by FLIP, Julio Roberto Gómez Esguerra, secretary-general of the General Confederation of Labour (Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT), one of the trade union centrals that organised the march, said that any act of aggression against a member of the press was absolutely unacceptable. He also said that his organization would try to help identify the person who assaulted Arboleda.
FLIP is concerned about the continuous acts of aggression against journalists covering public demonstrations, and urges the leaders of the movements organising such events to ensure that journalists’ right to cover such events is respected.
FLIP also urges journalists to identify themselves and explain what they are doing before taking photographs at such events, in order to protect themselves.
