Cali journalists denounced being expelled from demonstrations called by the Petro government

Journalists are expelled from Cali during demonstrations in favor of the national government. (Screenshot/@TwiterosCali)

President Gustavo Petro called for a series of mobilizations for Tuesday, February 14, in favor of the reforms proposed by his administration. In Cali, Valle del Cauca, the demonstrations started in the morning; however, they ended in attacks on the press at Parque de Banderas.

FLIP considers that in Colombia, the state pressures journalism to do its job.

The tweets of President Petro, the legal disputes against the communicators who revealed scandals, or in the worst case, the murders against these professionals would be the examples of the attacks which the press undergoes in the country.

In the place, there were several correspondents from MRC, radio CM&, and even photojournalists who covered the protests. After 3:00 p.m., a group of citizens decided to expel some of the journalists from the park, booing and pushing them until they left the assembly point.

“Out, out RCN… out, out, out,” we heard during the demonstration. The attack, which violates freedom of the press, was videotaped and showed that they had not only chased journalists from RCR News but also those from On the radio who could not complete the coverage of the marches in the capital of Valle del Cauca.

Demonstrators shouted “out, out” at journalists, booed them, and pushed them out of the assembly area. (Twitter/@cathybekerman)

The clip was shared by the journalist of Snail Radio, Cathy Bekerman, who wrote a message of support to his colleagues on his Twitter account. “I deeply regret that they want to corner the media in the marches and that they want to intimidate them,” said the communicator from Cali. “They do their job. Too bad for Cali.”

The ombudsman’s office appealed to the public for the protests to be peaceful.

The head of the entity, Carlos Camargo, recalled that peaceful protest is a right that must be exercised conscientiously and responsibly to avoid falling into misinformation.

For his part, the director of RCR News, José Manuel Acevedo, also sent a message regarding what happened. “This country must lower the pugnacity. This country must understand that it is only by finding ourselves in the differences that we will build alternative paths,” declared the journalist and repeated that “nothing justifies the attack on the press.”

The various reforms of the government of Gustavo Petro have aroused both support and criticism from the population, so Colombia will experience several days of protests in the third week of February. Faced with this scenario, two entities have appealed to citizens to guarantee fundamental rights during the mobilizations.

Gustavo Petro came out on the balcony of the Casa de Nariño to defend his government’s controversial reforms.

In the midst of several taunts and heated questions to various sectors of the press and to “the two biggest bankers in Colombia,” the President of the Republic spoke about the transformations he intends to bring to pensions, health, and work.

On Tuesday, February 14, supporters of the current administration marched through the main streets of Bogotá towards the Parade, located between the Congress of the Republic building and the Palacio de Nariño. Citizens responded to the president’s call when they arrived at the Casa de Nariño at 3:00 p.m. to listen to his speech in defense of his reforms.

The second day of mobilizations was called by the opposition to the current government, led by Congressmen Paloma Valencia, María Fernanda Cabal, and Miguel Polo Polo, of the Democratic Center. The appointment is at 10:00 a.m. in 12 cities on Wednesday, February 15, one day after the day before.

In view of this agenda, the Mediator emphasized the importance of respecting different ways of thinking so that the marches can take place peacefully. “The constitutional right of citizens to demonstrate and protest peacefully must be recognized as one of the main bulwarks of democracy,” the entity said in a statement.

For its part, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (Flip) issued a series of recommendations concerning the convened marches. “In recent years, the protests have been a risky scenario for media coverage,” it commented in a Twitter thread. The police and some citizens attacked and repressed their work.

Suggestions for journalists include: wearing a vest that identifies them as press, wearing an M88 helmet that covers the neck, being accompanied by other colleagues, sharing your location with people not at the event, maintaining permanent contact with the communication media, and trying to make copies in a cloud of the material collected.

“We remember that the National Police is obliged to guarantee the freedom of the press,” Flip said on the social network. Following this, it asked that the commitment of uniformed agents be reinforced for “the respect of journalists, as well as their disciplinary investigation in cases of irregularities committed.”