Following violent aggression against journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called on Sunday for national and international mass media to boycott the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s presidency and government.
In a statement, the syndicate called for PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to fire the Palestinian police chief for not affording protection to journalists, banning them from covering the anti-PA protests, and allowing undercover forces to attack them.
Palestinian Authority and loyalists banned journalists and civilian documentation of their grave and violent attacks on Palestinians in #Ramallah today. They assassinated Nizar Banat then sent thugs to beat protestors unconscious and collectively assault them. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/V9vQtID68f
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) June 27, 2021
The syndicate called for prosecuting the aggressors and asked Shtayyeh to apologize to journalists and to pledge to respect their work and freedom of expression.
If the PA’s aggression on journalists continues, the syndicate warned, other measures would be taken in the meantime.
A Palestinian journalist appeals to the EU, human rights organizations, to protect him from attacks and restrictions by the Palestinian Authority security forces. pic.twitter.com/hfJuAcq467
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) June 27, 2021
The syndicate also called for protesters not to harass journalists or undermine their work as “they are merely reporters, not part of the incidents.”
The moment a plainclothes thug from the Palestinian Authority forces attacks journalist Najlaa Zeitoun with a wooden stick in today’s Ramallah protest https://t.co/qgAHys0T9a
— لينة (@LinahAlsaafin) June 26, 2021
The syndicate asserted that it would start filing criminal complaints against those involved in the attacks against journalists.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)