Reporters Wiıthout Borders urges France to stop police violence against journalists in protests

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday urged the French interior minister to stop police violence against journalists during pension reform protests.

Violence marred most of the protests in France over the past week, and the depth of police intervention started being debated and condemned.

The RSF in a statement denounced the arbitrary arrests, aggressions, and intimidation targeting journalists during the pension reform protests.

"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asks the Interior Minister (Gerald Darmanin) to remind of the obligation of the security forces to protect journalists and their rights during public events," the statement read.

The statement explained in detail the cases of some journalists who have been directly targeted by police officers although they made clear that they were press members.

"The RSF firmly condemns this new series of violence and abusive police measures," the statement cited Secretary-General Christophe Deloire as saying.

"Those incidents do not suit the National law enforcement plan," it added.

The RSF also noted that France ranked 26th among 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2022.