Athens, 21 January 2019

The Executive Council of the Foreign Press Association of Greece (FPA) strongly condemns the attack on journalists by a group of violent demonstrators during yesterday’s rally at Syntagma Square

FPA member Thomas Jacobi was repeatedly punched in the face by unknown men as he was covering the rally in his professional capacity. The assailants attacked Mr Jacobi, caused him facial injuries and destroyed his equipment while demanding that he erase material gathered on his mobile phone. Even worse injuries were prevented only by police intervention.

In different parts of the square, other extreme elements seriously injured photographers, at least one of whom was working for a foreign press organization, and attacked a crew of state broadcaster ERT.

The FPA expresses its solidarity towards the injured colleagues and requests that authorities promptly investigate the incidents.