More thuggery against media

More thuggery against media

JAKARTA: A hotel security guard physically assaulted a
cameraman from SCTV television station Tuesday when he was
covering a special shareholders' meeting held by Bank Lippo at
the Hotel Dharmawangsa in Central Jakarta.

The guard, identified as Amin, hit Agung Nugroho's left ear
with his radio handset, and yanked Agung's ID card from around
his neck, according to Bayu Wicaksono of the Alliance of
Independence Journalists (AJI).

About 100 journalists were crowded in front of the Ballroom
entrance, where the event was taking place, but they were not
allowed to enter.

AJI condemned the wanton violence by the guard, and termed it
harassment of the press and a violation of the principle of
freedom of information as mentioned in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and Press Law No. 40/1999.

The organization also called upon the city police to pay
serious attention to the incident and investigate the case by
questioning the security guard and the hotel management. --JP