(FMM/IFEX) - On 24 May 2006, three Tamil-language trainee journalists of the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) were harassed by students protesting recent violent activities by the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The trainees had to take shelter in a police station for more than three hours, on a complaint made by them against video filming by the trainees. The protest was organised by the Inter-University Students Union and Inter-University Bikku Union.
FMM condemns the harassment and deplores the allegations made by the protesters that filming by trainee journalists was a security threat to them. Protesters alleged that the films might be passed over the LTTE in order to identify the protesters and retaliate against them. This was a public incident and television cameras were present to film the protest.
The SLCJ is part of the Sri Lanka Media Institute, which has been formed by The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, The Newspaper Society and the FMM.
Identifying the trainee journalists as of Tamil origin, the protesters surrounded them and had started questioning them, when the police intervened. If the police had not been there, the situation might have become dangerous for the trainee journalists.
After recording the trainees' statements, the police released the trainee journalists but their cassettes were kept by the police for "inspection".
Last year a Tamil-language journalist named Yadarshan was harassed and handed over to police by a group of protesters in the same manner.
If such conduct by protesters becomes common in the precarious situation in Sri Lanka, FMM fears that freedom of expression rights will be curtailed drastically.
