HIBAPRESS – Casablanca
The industrial zone of Lissasfa in Casablanca witnessed a dangerous incident yesterday, Monday, after a number of journalists and correspondents were subjected to a violent verbal and physical assault by a person who claimed to work for the company where the fire broke out, while they were covering the incident from the public street and legally.
The sudden attack included insults, pushing, and an attempt to break work equipment, amid the shock of those present, while some journalists were forced to stop live broadcasting and move away from the place to protect their safety, including our colleague journalist at the "HIBAPRESS" website. Security treatment is astonishing. According to the testimonies of the journalists who were at the scene, the security official who attended the scene with security elements did not provide them with the necessary protection, despite the repeated calls to intervene to stop the assault and prevent the situation from developing. This treatment, which was dominated by a kind of rudeness towards the journalists' demands, increased the tension of the scene, before it was later confirmed that the matter was not just a misjudgment at the moment of the incident. Security District 20 complicates the situation. What is more worrying is what happened later at Security District 20, which is under the territorial jurisdiction of the place of the assault, where the journalists confirmed that the district officials refused to open an official record to document the assault, and did not accept to listen to the victims despite their verbal complaints supported by testimonies and videos showing the aggressor clearly. This incomprehensible rejection left a shocking impression on the journalists, and was considered by a number of them as implicit encouragement of the "thuggery" they were exposed to, especially in the absence of any firm security intervention to protect them at the scene or later through activating the legal procedure. Calls to open an investigation and hold those responsible accountable. The entire incident raises more than one question about the protection of journalists while performing their field work, and the supposed role of security officials in securing coverage, in addition to the fact that the security district's refusal to open a legal record despite the existence of videos and witnesses raises more than one question. The affected journalists, along with media actors, are demanding the opening of an official and urgent investigation to determine responsibilities and arrange penalties against anyone who assaulted or neglected to protect the journalists, in a way that preserves the prestige of the law and ensures that such dangerous behaviors are not repeated.
