Anti-Omnibus Law Protest; AJI Says 28 Journalists Faced Police Intimidation
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Non Koresponden
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Laila Afifa
Sabtu, 10 Oktober 2020 14:39 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) recorded 28 violent cases against journalists during the news reporting of anti-omnibus law demonstration in a number of regions in Indonesia.
AJI advocacy head Sasmita Madrim explained that the cases were mostly the destruction of tools and deprivation of news coverage data. “Which is 9 cases. And then, 7 intimidation cases, 6 physical assault cases, and 6 arrests,” he said in an online discussion on Saturday, October 10.
The perpetrators of the assault were all police personnel. AJI argued the police had been showing that they become the enemy of freedom of the press in the past few years.
In addition, most journalists in these 28 cases had shown their press IDs but they still received unfair treatment. “Even six journalists in Jakarta were arrested for almost 1x24 hours or 2x24 hours. They were freed on the night of October 9 from the Jakarta Metro Police,” Sasmito revealed.
Based on the findings, AJI called on media firms to provide trauma healing counseling to their journalists who became the victims of violence when reporting the Job Creation Law protest. Sasmito also urged the police to thoroughly investigate these incidents and implement Article 18 paragraph 9 of Press Law.
Read: AJI Fears Omnibus Law Threatens Broadcasting Rights
Andita Rahma
