RSF slams Europe police treatment of refugee crisis reporters
The press watchdog RSF has censured European police for their treatment of journalists who are covering ongoing refugee crisis at European border crossings.
The Paris-based media watchdog’s rebuke on Tuesday came after Croatian police at the Serbian border pushed photographer Andrej Isakovic working for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) to the ground. The police also confiscated his two cameras for several hours.
The Croatian police are also said to have seized and thrown the camera of a British freelance journalist at the same Berkasovo crossing point, while Reuters news agency said they threatened one of its cameramen.
"Incidents against reporters involving police officers on the borders are becoming an unacceptable pattern we can only denounce," said Alexandra Geneste, head of the EU-Balkans office at RSF, in an email.
She further denounced as “simply appalling” violence against journalists covering the refugee crisis.
RSF had previously slammed the conduct of Hungarian police after they prevented foreign media from reporting the refugees’ situation at the Hungary-Serbia border. The organization was particularly furious at the police for using force against journalists on three occasions.
Croatia's Interior Ministry on Monday accused two foreign news agency reporters of entering the country “at an illegal border crossing" along with refugees in violation of its laws.
However, Isakovic said police checked his press credentials when he arrived at Berkasovo, adding that Croatian officers approached him, shouting and swearing, while he was still on Serbian soil close to the tents of asylum seekers.
RSF also urged authorities in Croatia to stop the police “from engaging in threats and violence of this kind.”
Europe is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis, which has escalated over the summer as refugees are coming directly to the continent instead of staying in camps in neighboring countries.
The continent is now divided over how to deal with the flood of people, mainly Syrians fleeing the four-year foreign-backed militancy in their homeland.
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