Senegal
Reporter attacked covering protestPosted Apr 19 2008
Senegalese police attacked reporter Ousmane Mangane who was covering a violent anti-government protest March 30. They raided the reporter’s television station later the same day. According to Reuters, Walf TV broadcasted images of police beating demonstrators during a protest attended by approximately one hundred people over high food prices near Dakar, Senegal’s capital.
Mangane told CPJ that riot police used tasers on him while he interviewed an opposition member of Senegal’s cabinet on live television. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Mangane was beaten with a baton as he confronted a parliamentarian being pushed by the police during the protest.
Two officials from the police’s Criminal Investigation Division arrived at Walf’s studios at approximately 5:30 p.m. and demanded the station hand over the footage, according to Walf TV Programs Director Aissatou Diop Fall.
Several other journalists were also attacked by police during the protest, according to MFWA. One reporter’s press card was destroyed and another was forced to delete photos he had taken of the protest.