Journos protest police action on 3 lens men

Photojournalists stage a demonstration before Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday protesting Saturday's police assault on three of their colleagues from Prothom Alo.Photo: STAR

Journalists of different media houses staged a two-hour sit-in before the capital's Jatiya Press Club yesterday protesting Saturday's police assault on three photojournalists.
Meanwhile, different organisations condemned the incident and demanded legal action against the policemen involved.
Policemen, led by Shahidul Islam, assistant commissioner of Tejgaon division, swooped on the photojournalists while they were taking shots of a demonstration staged by the students of Dhaka Women Polytechnic Institute around 1:00pm.
Photojournalists throughout the country will stage demonstrations in their respective districts and before Jatiya Press Club in the capital today if the policemen concerned are not arrested.
It was decided at a meeting among leaders of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Dhaka Union of Journalists, Dhaka Reporters Unity and Photojournalists Association yesterday.
Earlier, they staged the sit-in from around 11:00am.
The leaders demanded compensation for the assaulted photojournalists of Bangla daily Prothom Alo -- Khaled Sarkar, Sajid Hossain and Zahidul Karim.
They also demanded recording of a case against the policemen concerned.
Meanwhile, different organisations said temporary suspension and closing are not adequate punitive measures.
Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Directive Iftekharuzzaman, in a statement, said, “We demand exemplary punishment of the perpetrators. Simple closing and temporary suspension are far from enough.”
Ain O Salish Kendra, a rights body, in a press release, termed the assault “a bar to the freedom of opinion”.
Sammilito Sangskritik Jote, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Ganosanghati Andolan, Progressive Art and Mass Workers' Forum, Bangladesh Jatiya Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami also condemned the assault.
Some BNP leaders led by its standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan, on behalf of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, visited the three injured journalist at Trauma Centre in the capital last night.