(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Police and military officials attributed to “nervousness” their attack upon a group of cameramen and journalists who were covering protests in front of the presidential house on 10 August 2006. The incident occurred after a fragmentation grenade exploded in the hands of one of the policemen assigned to contain the teachers’ protests that […]
(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Police and military officials attributed to “nervousness” their attack upon a group of cameramen and journalists who were covering protests in front of the presidential house on 10 August 2006. The incident occurred after a fragmentation grenade exploded in the hands of one of the policemen assigned to contain the teachers’ protests that resulted in the 11 August signing of an agreement with the government.
Police commissioner Roberto Romero Luna apologised to the press, saying that the policemen on duty were “nervous” after the 9 August confrontations with the demonstrating teachers, in which more than a dozen injuries were reported on both sides of the conflict, with many blows exchanged and at least three teachers injured by police and military gunfire.
According to Romero Luna, the nervousness caused by this confrontation led to the police reaction to the press, when the latter ran towards the police to cover the accidental explosion of a grenade. The advancing journalists were met with blows and other aggressive gestures by the Ministry of Security police.
Cameramen with two national news programmes – Vica Televisión Channel 9’s “Telenoticias 5” and Channel 11’s “Hable como Habla” – received the worst of the police aggression. “Telenoticias 5” cameraman Óscar Zepeda recounted that “they grabbed us as if we were delinquents.”
“We don’t understand why the police treated us this way, when they had seen that we were covering events there at the government house; it seems as if they lost control. They not only damaged our equipment, they also beat us severely. We are not delinquents. If they do this to recognized members of the press, what would they do to a defenceless ordinary person?” asked the cameraman.
The head of presidential security, Coronel Efraín Ochoa, said “we will thoroughly investigate” the incident. “This was the outcome of nervousness, of tension, and at the right moment the press will receive the apologies owed them.”
President Manuel Zelaya, in brief statements made to “Telenoticias 5”, expressed regret over the incident, spoke of having the damaged cameras repaired, and promised to guarantee greater respect for the press.
The Journalists’ College of Honduras (Colegio de Periodistas de Honduras) was outraged by the incident and issued a statement reminding authorities that “nothing justifies the excesses” committed against the press, which is not a party to the social conflict affecting the country.
