MDP condemns incident when Raajje TV was forced to leave PPM rally

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has condemned the incident when Raajje TV journalists were forced to leave Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) rally held in Artificial Beach to mark the International Women’s Day last Friday.

A statement released by the MDP Secretariat yesterday stated that women journalists from Raajje TV, who had attended the rally held by PPM to mark the International Women’s Day, were subjected to degrading treatment in front of the crowd, and were forcefully asked to remove their microphones from the podium.

MDP’s statement states that PPM’s actions were clear evidence that they are unable to ‘digest’ the freedom of media, and that MDP views these actions on the International Women’s Day as actions of disrespect towards women. The statement also called to refrain actions that trample the freedom of the media.

In relation to MDP's statement, PPM deputy spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali told Sun today that actions by Raajje TV journalists were such that they went ahead and posted their microphone upon the event’s podium without prior permission and that such actions cannot be condoned by PPM.

He said that all media groups who practice journalism in a responsible manner were invited to cover the event and but said that they do not welcome the TV channels who had report the party's news in a dishonest and irresponsible ways.

“Following our procedure, we invited the media to do the coverage. On a previous occasion, Raajje TV had come one of our very small invents and took videos and sound as they willed and went ahead to spread false news. They had displayed on the lower bar on their TV [broadcast] that PPM had called to kill people during one their events. Raajje TV has also claimed that we bothered and bullied their journalist. That is a blatant lie. So we do not welcome TV channels who broadcast their news so irresponsibly,” Muaz said.

While MDP has appealed that the journalist not be subjected to humiliating and degrading circumstances, some journalists from TVM who had been covering an MDP protest were recently subjected packets of paint thinner thrown from the crowd. More recently, a journalist from VTV was subjected to attacks and harassment where his camera was badly damaged.

In a more heinous incident recently, a journalist from Raajje TV was brutally attacked on the road, and has been seeking treatment in a hospital in Sri Lanka ever since. A journalist from Sun was also the target of abuse recently when he was attacked by a crowd who forcefully took his phone from him.