Vienna, 11 August 2018
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) sent today a letter to police officials in Romania asking them to take more care about journalists and respect journalists who are reporting from demonstrations. This letter was sent and signed by SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic, after two Austrian media representatives were suffering police violence and harassment yesterday on 10 August 2018 during violent clashes between police and protestors in Bucharest.
Cameraman Robert Reinprecht and correspondent Ernst Geleg were amongst 450 people who were injured as tens of thousands of Romanians.They were live reporting into the main national TV news Zeit im Bild on public TV broadcaster ORF when the police attacked them.
During this demonstration the Romanian police used violence in total against around 15 journalists. Robert Mihăilescu, working for Hotnews.ro was beaten by police officers, who also smashed his mobile phone. Also attacked by police were journalists working for Casa Jurnalistului, Documentaria.ro, Agerpres, news Digi24 and German Deutsche Welle.