More G20 accounts of violence against journalists

As the stories of abuse, arrest and censorship from G20 coverage
continue to pour in, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression has the
latest roundup of free expression violations.

-Two National Post photographers Brett Gundlock and Colin O’Connor were arrested and charged;

-CTV News Channel producer Farzad Fatholahzadeh was detained;

-Freelance journalist Jesse Rosenfeld was beaten and arrested by police;

-Liem Vu, an intern with the National Post, and Lisan Jutras, a Globe and Mail journalist, were among those detained for four hours at Queen and Spadina;

-Real News journalist Jesse Freeston was punched in the face by a police officer;

-Torontoist journalist Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy was struck by a police officer with a baton;

-Video journalist Brandon Jourdan was thrown to the ground and beaten by police.

CJFE will be monitoring these cases and will update its list if more come to light.  To our knowledge, all journalists have now been released.

 “Based on the facts available to us at this time, we’re very disturbed by what appears to be overly aggressive tactics directed both at protestors and the media,” said CJFE President, Arnold Amber.  “When a major disturbance occurs in Canada’s largest city, the role of the journalist is to inform the public. All accredited journalists had been vetted by security officials.  There is no reason for them to have been detained or attacked while doing their work.”