(JED/IFEX) – On Tuesday 24 July 2001, in the early afternoon, Arnold Zaitman, Kinshasa correspondent for the Associated Press (AP) agency and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio, and his colleague Soyang Park were briefly detained on 30 June Boulevard in Kinshasa/Gombe by Rapid Intervention Police (Police d’intervention rapide, PIR) officers. They were taken to the […]
(JED/IFEX) – On Tuesday 24 July 2001, in the early afternoon, Arnold Zaitman, Kinshasa correspondent for the Associated Press (AP) agency and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio, and his colleague Soyang Park were briefly detained on 30 June Boulevard in Kinshasa/Gombe by Rapid Intervention Police (Police d’intervention rapide, PIR) officers. They were taken to the “Regina” police station, located in the courtyard of the former Regina Hotel in Kinshasa/Gombe, and detained there for a brief period.
The two journalists were arrested as they were covering a demonstration by opposition supporters, who were protesting the ban on a press conference by opposition leaders, notably Etienne Tshisekedi, president of the UDPS (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social) and Joseph Olenghankoy, president of FONUS (Forces novatrices pour l’union et la solidarité). The press conference was to be held at the Sainte Anne Parish in Kinshasa/Gombe.
Zaitman told JED that PIR officers snatched a bag he had with him at the time, which contained a tape recorder, a portable phone, a credit card, a microphone and his passport. The journalist added that his Park’s arrest was clearly aimed at stopping them from covering the demonstration by opposition activists.
