The ongoing political crisis in Pakistan turned deadly over the weekend with three protesters dead and at least 500 wounded in the capital, Islamabad. As is often the case, the press was not spared from violence, with dozens of journalists covering the rally injured by police or protesters.
The following is a CPJ Blog post by Sumit Galhotra, CPJ Asia Program Research Associate.
The ongoing political crisis in Pakistan turned deadly over the weekend with three protesters dead and at least 500 wounded in the capital, Islamabad. As is often the case, the press was not spared from violence, with dozens of journalists covering the rally injured by police or protesters, according to news reports and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.
On Sunday, protesters pelted stones at and damaged the offices of the privately owned Geo TV and struck a Geo News satellite van with batons, the channel reported. Early Monday, protesters armed with sticks stormed the headquarters of the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) and harassed staff, damaged broadcast equipment, and cut cables, leading to a temporary block in transmission, according to news reports. Although the army eventually brought the situation under control, the ability of anti-government protesters to get inside a building the military was apparently guarding prompted some to question the army’s role, the BBC reported.
Read the full blog post on CPJ’s site.
