Lisbon, Sept. 17, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's ministry of foreign affairs has expressed its regret at the incident with the Lusa reporter in Guinea-Bissau on Sunday and takes "good note of the steps taken" and the Guinea-Bissau President's apology to the journalist.

In response to questions sent by Lusa on Monday, the ministry led by Paulo Rangel said that "Portugal regrets this incident, has presented its position to the Guinea-Bissau authorities and takes good note of the steps taken, which have already produced results, including the fact that the Guinea-Bissau president telephoned the image reporter to apologise for what happened".

 "Having learnt that Lusa's image reporter in Bissau had been attacked by members of the Rapid Intervention Police, the ministry of foreign affairs quickly took steps at various levels with the authorities to ascertain the facts and demand a full explanation of what had happened," emphasises the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA).

Lusa's image reporter in Bissau, Júlio Oliveira, was approached by members of the Rapid Intervention Police on Sunday at 6.20pm local time, when he was filming a rally in support of a Guinea-Bissau politician.

In addition to an officer punching him in the back, the police forced the reporter to delete the images he had taken and tried to force the Lusa journalist into a van to be taken to a police station, which did not happen in the end.

Lusa's Information Directorate on Monday expressed its strong condemnation of the assault on the reporter and said it had taken official action.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Information Directorate of Lusa - Agência de Notícias de Portugal said it was "shocked by the unexpected and inexplicable aggression" against its image reporter when he was reporting on the arrival of the speaker of parliament, Domingo Simões Pereira.

"This type of incident deserves the strongest condemnation from Lusa's management, as it violates the most basic principles of freedom of information and of the press, as well as the rule of law," it says, emphasising the seriousness of the incident and adding that it "immediately took the measures deemed appropriate at official level as soon as it became aware of the facts that occurred".

'[The department] has personally expressed its solidarity with the journalist and has offered to give him all the support he needs," the statement said.

The attack on image reporter Júlio Oliveira was also strongly condemned by Lusa's Editorial Board, which, in a statement, expressed its total solidarity with the comrade and condemned the attitude of the police.

"The elected members of the Editorial Board condemn in the strongest terms the aggression suffered by our comrade, to whom they express total solidarity, and deplore the action of the police to prevent the free exercise of journalism in the country," it said.

Lusa's Lusophony and Africa team also issued a statement in which it "condemns and regrets the attack" on the journalist.

"It is never too much to remember the conditions of extreme pressure in which many of our journalists, especially local contractors, work, with attacks on press freedom and, as was evident in the case on Sunday, victims of physical violence in the exercise of their profession."

In a reference to the incidents targeting Júlio Oliveira, the speaker of Guinea-Bissau's Parliament on Sunday emphasised the abnormality of the situation in his country.

"I arrived and was convinced that everything was normal. Suddenly, I realise that people are being blocked from accessing the airport. There are journalists who have been attacked, journalists who have had the materials they used for their work taken away from them," said Simões Pereira.

ATR/AYLS // AYLS

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