Journalists to demonstrate against Emergency Regulations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 January 2006, 11:12 GMT]
Media organizations including Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, Media Employees Trade Union Federation and Free Media Movement, in a press release issued Wednesday, said they are planning to demonstrate in front the Fort Railway Station Thursday protesting against the Emergency Regulations that allows Sri Lanka Security personnel to detain and harass journalists.

Full text of the release follows:

Stop using emergency rule to harasses media and journalists
Journalist demonstration in Colombo
On 12th January 2006 at 4.00 pm in front of Fort railway station

The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, Media Employees Trade Union Federation and Free Media Movement have decided to hold a demonstration in front of the Fort Railway Station in Colombo Thursday evening against the security forces for harassing Tamil media persons and media institutions using the Emergency Regulations.

In recent times search operations at media institutions and arrest of journalists and other harassment, particularly targeting Tamil media institutions and media persons, are on the increase. Security forces refuse to accept media accreditation cards by the Department of Information when they arrest Tamil media persons. The security forces had assaulted Tamil media persons who were covering a demonstration in Jaffna recently and were not accepting their media accreditation card. Photographers of two Tamil dailies have been subjected to inquiry for taking photographs of Tamil people when they were arrested and detained in Colombo police stations. Security forces searched offices of two Tamil dailies published in Jaffna recently.

Hence the five major Journalists organisations have decided hold a demonstration in front of the Fort railway station on Thursday evening at 4.30 pm to oppose using the Emergency Regulations against the Tamil media institutions and Tamil media persons and demanding the security forces to accept the government media accreditation cards.

Main slogan of the demonstration will be stop using emergency rule to harasses media and journalists.