Locals protest on Tuesday against the 'Airtel Tower'
A Tamil journalist was assaulted and threatened by a group of unidentified people, when he went to film a protest in Batticaloa on Tuesday (5th January).
Kugarasu Subojan traveled to Eravur, Batticaloa to cover a local protest against the ‘Airtel Tower’ on Tuesday morning when he was approached and threatened by a group of unidentified persons. They surrounded Subojan after identifying him as a journalist and told him to immediately stop filming the demonstrations, before attempting to assault him.
They tried to intimidate Subojan and said to him, “What is a journalist to us?, Oh, so you think you’re some big person?”
Kugarasu Subojan (circled) at the protests
They repeatedly shouted at him to “delete the video” and tried to steal Subojan’s video equipment.
Subojan, however, resisted the attempts and was able to flee the scene safely with the help of some other nearby correspondents.
Letter of complaint against the assault submitted on Wednesday
Journalists have demanded that Eravur police immediately locates and arrests the assaulters and submitted a complaint at the local Karadiyanaru police station on Wednesday.
Media repression in the North-East has escalated since the appointment of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Sri Lanka’s president last year, with an increase in incidents of Tamil journalists facing state surveillance and intimidation.
