Chemnitz blamed for media attacks
A German report has shown more journalists are being attacked while photographing, filming or holding cameras, mostly in the east by far-right activists.
The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom reported that 28 journalists suffered 22 verified physical assaults so far this year.
There were only five registered attacks against the press in 2017, while in 2015 there were 43 verified attacks.
The figures differ from those of the German Federal Criminal Police Office with the study putting the difference down to different assessment criteria.
Of this year’s 22 assaults, 13 were reported in Saxony, four attacks were registered in neighbouring Saxony-Anhalt and two took place in Thuringia.
At the far-right riots in Chemnitz (pictured) on September 1, demonstrators protested against the death of a German-Cuban man during a street festival, which was blamed on migrants from Iraq and Syria. That day nine attacks occurred against 11 journalists covering the mob, the report added.
Erdogan
Deniz Yücel, a German-Turkish journalist who was held in pre-trial detention in Turkey for a year, has criticised Germany for inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an official visit.
The journalist, who was given the M100 Media Award this week, criticised President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for inviting the Turkish strongman, despite human and media freedom violations.
The journalist accused the German government of “betraying those in Turkey who want a free, democratic and secular society”.
Yücel, 44, was a Welt correspondent in Turkey when he was arrested in Istanbul on February 14 last year and held in the maximum-security Silivri jail and court complex, straining relations with Berlin.
He returned to Germany after being freed on February 16 this year.
Yücel’s trial continues in Turkey and he faces up to 18 years on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda and fomenting hatred and enmity among the public.
Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in this year’s World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of journalists in the world, according to the Stockholm Centre for Freedom, which said 236 journalists and media staff were being held in jail this month, most on pre-trial detention. Of those in prison, 168 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 media staff had been convicted.
Detention warrants are outstanding for 147 journalists who are in exile or remain at large in Turkey.
Chemnitz. Picture credit: YouTube