Police in riot gear during a protest outside Indonesia’s parliament in the capital Jakarta on March 27. Several journalists have been attacked by the police while covering similar protests over a new military law in other Indonesian cities. |Photo: Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana|.
Authorities in Indonesia forced two journalists to delete photos and videos they shot during a protest on 24 March, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
CPJ called on the authorities to identify and bring to account the police officers who forced two journalists— one of whom they beat on the head — to delete photos and videos of the protest.
About 1,000 demonstrators threw stones and clashed with police, who responded with water cannons, in the eastern city of Surabaya, over a new law that increases the power of the military.
“It is the Indonesian government’s responsibility to protect, not assault, working journalists who are covering protests,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “These types of assaults on the free press must stop now.”
Rama Indra, a journalist with the local digital outlet Beritajatim, told CNN that several police officers forced him to stop filming them beating protesters and hit his head with their hands and a wooden stick to make him delete his footage.
They also confiscated his cell phone, even though he identified himself as a journalist and presented his press ID card. He reported the incident to the police.
Police also forced Wildan Pratama, a journalist with the local digital outlet Suara Surabaya, to delete his photos of about 25 arrested protesters at the same site.
The military law has triggered protests across Indonesia, with some fearing a return to military rule.
On March 23, at least eight student journalists were assaulted by police and military forces while documenting a similar protest in the East Java city of Malang, according to a local Tempo report.
CPJ’s emailed requests to the Surabaya police and Presidential Communications Office for comment did not receive immediate replies.
