Agitated protestors manhandled reporters and cameraperson while reporting in Pokhara on October 20. Pokhara lies in Gandaki Province of Nepal.
Freedom Forum's representative for the province Rajan Upadhyaya shared that reporters Niraj Tamang, Anita Ghimire and cameraperson Arjun Bhandari were manhandled while reporting live of a protest at Shahidchowk, Pokhara.
According to representative Upadhyay, reporter Ghimire said that they were reporting live of the political cadres' protesting against the arrest of Former Home Minister and President of Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichhane. Lamichhane was arrested by a team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) from the party's central office in Kathmandu on October 18. Then, he was presented before the Kaski District Court in Pokhara on October 20. Lamichhane has been accused of embezzlement of funds from a local cooperative office based in Pokhara.
"During live broadcast protestors shouted- this is the television channel which broadcasts news critical to our party and leader. They also tried to damage our camera", she informed.
Meanwhile, Pokhara based reporter at AP1 Tv Sagar Raj Timilsina and news chief at https://sungabhanews.com/ Arjun Gaha Magar were also injured while reporting the protest. They were hit by stones pelted by protestors. Their cameras were also damaged.
Freedom Forum condemns the attack upon reporters while covering the protest. Protection of journalists is essential. FF urges the security authority to pay heed to this. Moreover, journalists are also urged to use safety gears and choose a safe site for reporting protests and demonstrations.
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Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np