The Union of Professional Journalists from Romania (UZPR) is protesting after the journalists who were at the protest in front of the Parliament on Friday, January 10, were attacked and threatened.
PHOTO: Inquam photos/George Calin
During the protest, demonstrators threw water bottles and pretzels at a Digi24 journalist, who was no longer able to broadcast live. The car of the Observator Antena 1 team was vandalized by demonstrators, who tore off the registration number and the wheel covers. To escape the crowd, the crew set off with the antenna up.
The individuals did not escape unpunished, being fined 32,000 lei, and a criminal case was opened.
“A reporting document was drawn up in order to forward it to the competent bodies, in accordance with the provisions of art. 253 of the Criminal Code of Romania (Destruction). Also, seven contraventional sanctions were applied, totaling 32,000 lei“, the Romanian Gendarmerie informed about the protest in the Capital.
According to the cited source, “three contraventional sanctions, totaling 30,000 lei”, were “applied for flights with civil aircraft without a pilot on board (drone type), above the city of Bucharest, without holding the necessary authorizations, according to art. 11, lit. j) from Government Decision no. 859/2021 for the approval of the authorization procedure for aircraft flights in the national airspace, with subsequent amendments and additions”.
The Union of Journalists from Romania is protesting
In a statement, UZPR protests against Friday’s attacks on journalists, which it considers unacceptable.
“UZPR reminds the public opinion that, recently, the attacks on the media have intensified, which came from several directions, including from some extremist politicians, who brought unqualified insults and uttered threats to our colleagues in the guild, thus positioning itself in a direction that is not only antisocial and under the scope of criminal legislation in Romania, but defying, through reprehensible acts, the public’s right to to be informed.
As a supporter of freedom of expression, UZPR is, at the same time, a militant for the full freedom of the press and cannot accept violent manifestations against mass media representatives who exercise their profession, firmly speaking out against any manifestations of violence, abuse, harassment or threats against journalists by people who defy the law“, it is stated in a press release of the organization, sent to AGERPRES on Friday and signed by the president of the Union, Sorin Stanciu.
The union also declared its solidarity with the journalists assaulted during the demonstrations.
“UZPR is fully in solidarity with colleagues from the press who have been assaulted by public or private persons, supports the actions of the authorities against these manifestations of violence and reiterates its belief that Romanian society cannot function in the most democratic way without a strong press, free and without journalists to work in complete safety, in the interest of informing public opinion”concludes UZPR.
