Last week several journalists working at different media outlets claimed they were attacked and forced to move away while they were covering an opposition riot.

“According to the Maldives Journalists’ Association (MJA), an IFJ affiliate, the journalists were reporting on a protest organised by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party in the national capital of Male,’’ said the IFJ’s statement.

“The MJA has since established that the journalists, most of whom were wearing press badges, were beaten with batons and some of them shackled. A few were briefly detained.’’

“Though the Maldives has significant provisions defending press freedom in its newly enacted constitution, there seems to be a gap between the assurances of the law and the reality faced by journalists on the ground,’’ said the IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park.

‘’“We fully support the MJA in its effort to ensure that all provisions of the law are made operative and become credible guarantees of press freedom.”

The police claimed that some journalists covering the riot had begun to show the same characteristics as the opposition activists and engaged in hostile confrontations with the police.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said last week that “some journalists opposed police orders and refused to stay in the security zone. It would have gone smoothly if they had worked according to the orders. Some journalists who opposed the police were moved away by using force.’’

He also claimed that journalists had tried to break the police lines and pass through the cordon.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.