Far-right party's restrictions on journalists condemned

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today expressed its great unease with the completely unacceptable treatment of journalists by the Greek far-right "Chrisi Avgi" party at a press conference on Sunday (6 May).

The party imposed restrictive conditions on journalists attending the press conference, organised by its leader Furrer N. Michaloliakos after the party secured 21 seats in the Greek parliament. The restrictions included the exclusion of some journalists from the press conference, including those who refused to stand up when Mr Michaloliakos entered the room.

Arne König, EFJ President, said: "This is a new precedent of an extremely alarming nature. I am very worried by the aggressiveness shown towards the journalists who only wanted to do their work. All political parties have to respect journalists and their professional duty to inform citizens."

The EFJ has joined with the Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers and its other affiliates in Greece to call on all press and media workers to resist such unacceptable demands as they continue their struggle for press freedom and the protection of democracy.

The EFJ is the European group of the International Federation of Journalists
The EFJ represents over 260,000 journalists in 30 countries
 For more information contact the EFJ at +32 2 235.2200