Saturday afternoon, a journalist from West France was verbally taken to task while covering an anti-vaccination pass demonstration in Caen (Calvados). She filed a complaint and the daily is preparing to do so as well.
“There was a verbal attack from a colleague who was following the demonstration and who wanted to give the floor to the people who were there, explained Tuesday François-Xavier Lefranc, the editor-in-chief of West France. Seeing that things were going badly, she went back to the editorial office and demonstrators arrived in front of the editorial office and tried to enter by banging on the doors and forcing the doors, which they failed to do. »
“We cannot accept this kind of thing, we are not going to be satisfied with complaints which will end up without action: we believe that these facts must be condemned and that if we do not react we will end up paying dearly for it”, a said the editor.
“This violence that has become habitual against journalists”
The National Union of Journalists (SNJ), the leading trade union in the profession, “condemns in the strongest terms these actions and this violence that has become habitual against journalists”.
“Saturday January 8, the journalists of France 3 Normandy had been insulted and taken to task. Anti-pass demonstrators had tagged the walls of the editorial office and made obscene gestures towards journalists. Since then, journalists have come to work with fear in their stomachs, ”denounces the union in a press release released on Monday.
In Paris, on Saturday, two image reporters (JRI) from AFP, as well as two close protection agents who accompanied them, were violently attacked while covering the anti-vaccination pass rally organized by the Les Patriotes movement of pro-Frexit presidential candidate Florian Philippot.