Journalists and protestors - EDITORIAL

On Sunday last, we were told how senior journalist of the Daily Mirror Jamila Hussein was allegedly prevented carrying out her duties by a section of the protestors outside the home of business tycoon Dhammika Perera.
What was worse, was that females were among the mob which blocked  Hussein. Later Hussein was able to escape to her vehicle and flee the area.
On May 9, after pro-government mobs streamed out of ‘Temple Trees’ and started attacking unarmed, peaceful demonstrators and assembled journalists at the protest sites ’Mynagogama’ and ‘Gotagogama’ evoked an equally violent reaction.

The pro-government mobsters who attacked peaceful protestors were themselves hauled out of buses that brought them to the city and subjected to bodily attacks.
Later that evening the unexpected happened. Unknown groups of young men on motorcycles began attacking homes of Ministers of State, government MPs and their supporters and setting them on fire.

A number of persons died in the mayhem that later spread to other areas. It soon became clear that the attacks bore the hallmarks of being pre-planned and executed with precision.
The protest on Ms. Hussein at the protest opposite Dhammika Perera’s home was a targeted action on a journalist. The protestors identified Hussein by name and accused her of reporting fake news. It was indeed very different from the peaceful protests demanding the president resign from office and retire to his ancestral village.

To all appearances, it seems a violent fringe group is attempting to hijack people’s movement and use the ongoing protest at the Galle Face Green to achieve their private political agenda.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has documented that many journalists have been harassed or attacked by police and at least nine have been injured in the course of the anti-government protests which are under way in Sri Lanka since 31 March.
The targeted attacks on journalists by certain unscrupulous elements brings to mind the targeted killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shreen Abu Akleh in Jenin with a single bullet to the head by an Israeli sniper.

According to a CNN report Abu Akleh, a 51-yearold Palestinian- American journalist was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 am on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.

“We stood in front of the Israeli military vehicles for about five to ten minutes before we made move to ensure they saw us. And this is a habit of ours as journalists, we move as a group and we stand in front of them so they know we are journalists, and then we start moving,” Hanaysha (a fellow journalist at the spot when Abu Akleh’s killing took place) told CNN. 
Protestors have the right to voice their protests, especially against a regime, which has brought so much misery to the population. But, they do not have a right to obstruct journalists performing his/her dutybecause they disagree with the report.

It is only in countries like Hitler’s Germany, Italy’s Mussolini and in present day Israel, journalists are specifically targeted and killed for exposing the truth of the horrors of war.
It is therefore essential that bands of roughnecks, like those who attacked Ms. Hussein, be not permitted to carry out acts of violence with impunity.
The culprits need to be brought before justice. Else, we may soon be faced with a situation where men and women begin to take the law into their own hands, when they disagree.