Agence France Presse is due to file a complaint on Monday with the public prosecutor, on behalf of its two JRIs (image reporter journalists) for “intentional violence in meetings” and “death threats”, and on its behalf for “Obstacle to freedom of expression”.
On Saturday, the two reporters and their two close protection agents were violently attacked and threatened with death while covering an anti-vaccination pass rally organized by Florian Philippot’s Les Patriotes movement in Paris. The company that employs the two agents will also file a complaint on its side.
Since these facts were revealed, they have aroused many reactions from political figures. “This violence is intolerable. Preventing journalists from doing their job is an attack on our democracy,” said Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot on Monday.
A team from Agence France Presse was molested and threatened with death during a demonstration on Saturday in Paris. This violence is intolerable.
Preventing journalists from doing their job is an attack on our democracy. @affr— Roselyne Bachelot (@R_Bachelot) January 17, 2022
“I totally condemn the attack that took place against an AFP journalist,” said Florian Philippot on CNews. “There was a small, obviously, temporary failure” in security, added the pro-Frexit presidential candidate.
“AFP denounces the trivialization of attacks against its teams”
According to journalists, around fifty people tried to attack the AFP videographer, responding to the call of a hooded individual with a megaphone. Protection officers intervened, but were beaten with truncheons. The team received death threats, and one of the security guards was hit in the head with a bottle, resulting in a skull wound.
“AFP denounces the trivialization of attacks, verbal and now physical, against its teams and is concerned about the new level of violence reached,” said Sunday the CEO of the agency, Fabrice Fries.
This is the second attack by an AFP team covering demonstrations against the health pass in the space of a few months. In July 2021, two JRIs had received spitting and insults during a previous demonstration organized by Florian Philippot.