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Yet another instance of militarisation of society: Media groups
View(s):Two of Sri Lanka’s leading media organisations condemned the Army assault on the media covering the Weliweriya protests.
The Free Media Movement (FMM) said,”this brutal assault” is “one more instance of militarisation of post war Sri Lanka society. Peaceful protests are part and parcel of the people’s right to free speech.”
Here are excerpts from FMM”s statement:
“Peaceful protests as well as journalists’ right to cover such events are universally accepted human rights. Deploying armed military forces to suppress a peaceful protest and using live ammunition is a clear violation of people’s human rights which shows the militarised mind-set of present day Sri Lankan rulers…..
“Journalists covering the protest have been threatened, blocked and assaulted by the military in order to suppress the media coverage of the military crackdown. As a result a number of journalists have been injured and their cameras damaged. In one instance a female journalist had to hide in a small room the whole night until the military left the area.
“It is very clear that the military crackdown had been pre-planned and was not a spontaneous reaction. The Army had launched a military operation style co-ordinated attack from three main points using assault rifles. In all three points journalists on duty came under pressure, intimidation and assault from the Army. At Orutota, one of the attack points, the Army forced a photographer of the Ada newspaper to climb down from the rooftop from where he was taking photos and then assaulted him. At Weliweriya where protests were on-going for the past six days the Army chased away the photo journalists from their vantage points and kept them in virtual house arrest blocking any access to the protest……”
The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) said that it condemned the “brute force of the Army which was unleashed on the public and the media personnel who had been covering a protest campaign in Weliweriya on Thursday.
The SLWJA statement added: “Prior to the attack a senior military officer who was commanding the troops deployed in Weliweriya warned the media personnel to vacate the scene. Journalists were warned against taking photographs and videoing the incident. They were warned with repercussions should they not comply with the military instructoions.
“The media personnel, who were in the scene later told SLWJA that they had been singled out during the subsequent attack when the military went berserk later in the evening, causing the death of one teenager and wounding many others.
“The military attack resulted in the hospitalisation of one photo journalist. A female journalist was forced to hide in a room in order to evade the soldiers who unleashed a brutal attack against the protestors and media personnel alike. Soldiers also confiscated the microchip of one journalist. The entire sordid episode which unfolded in Weliweriya highlighted the danger of state orchestrated militarisation in our society……”
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