Radio reporter hospitalized after attack by masked men
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 8 February 2016 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Radio reporter hospitalized after attack by masked men, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc524340c.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns today's "unacceptable" attack by masked men on a municipal radio reporter in Athens and calls on the city's authorities to shed all possible light on the incident.
When RSF was drafting this release, little information was available about the circumstances of the attack on the reporter, Dimitri Pierro of municipal radio 9.84, who was covering a demonstration called by trade unions in protest against the pension reform law.
"Whatever this circumstances, we firmly condemn an act of such violence against a journalist who was just doing his job at the time," said Alexandra Geneste, the head of RSF's EU-Balkans desk in Brussels.
Pierro was stopped by around 20 masked men armed with wooden sticks, who asked him to identify himself and started to hit him when he said he was a journalist. Local media reports described his assailants as "anarchists."
Pierro was taken to a local hospital where he was said to be under observation. He reportedly told other journalists that a riot police unit watched him being beaten without ever intervening.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Athens authorities said the attack was being investigated.
Staged as part of a nationwide 24-hour general strike, the demonstration ended with clashes between police and dozens of masked protesters, who were driven back with teargas and stun grenades.
Greece is ranked 91st out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
