A journalist was physically attacked in front of the media building of the TAZ in Berlin while trying to prevent a group of men and women of the Identitäre Bewegung (IB) to attach posters against left wing violence at the wall of the media house. The Identical movement (IB) is an extreme right wing group specialising on racist propaganda activities, established in France in 2012. It expanded quickly to other European countries including Austria and Germany.
Throughout Germany several media houses and facilities of political parties were attached with posters.
“This concerted attack shows how threatening the situation for our colleagues is. For press freedom in Germany this means at least alarm level yellow: There is an urgent need for action of all participating forces,” said Cornelia Berger, General Secretary of dju in ver.di.
During the last week, the IFJ and EFJ have registered attacks on journalists in Italy, France and now in Germany. This is unacceptable. Both organisations show their serious concerns about the increase of aggressions on journalists and ask governments to take effective measures to stop the systematic targeting of journalists and to ensure a safe working environment for them.