Police persons attacked journalists while they were covering a protest in Birgunj on April 15. Birgunj is located in Madhesh Province of Nepal.
According to Freedom Forum's provincial representative, Rajan Singh, violent clashes broke out on April 12 during a religious procession marking Hanuman Jayanti in Birgunj, after a group of people began pelting stones.
Then, Parsa District Administration imposed a curfew until midnight of April 13 to control the situation.
On April 15, journalists had reached the Parsa District Police Office to report on those detained in connection with the clashes.
During this time, both conflicting groups were also summoned to the police station for discussion. However, tensions intensified during the discussion leading to stone-pelting targeting police personnel, informed representative Singh.
Amid this, Arjun Gupta, a reporter for Avenues Television, sustained a head injury from stones thrown by protestors.
Anil Ojha of Madhya Nepal Sandesh and Dhirendra Tiwari of Chandra Surya daily were injured by baton charges as police attempted to control the crowd. All three journalists are receiving treatment at Narayani Hospital, Birgunj. Singh further confirmed that the journalists were wearing T-shirts and press ID cards of their respective media houses at the time of the incident.
Freedom Forum condemns the attack on journalists on-duty. The incident is an absolute violation of press freedom. Hence, FF strongly urges the police to differentiate between journalists and protestors while managing such situations and pay heed to their security, thereby ensuring safe reporting atmosphere.
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