By Bampia Bundu
A journalist working for Radio Democracy 98.1 has complained to the journalists’ body, SLAJ that he was “manhandled” and later “assaulted” by police officers while covering the Ansarul violence in Freetown.
Alex Laurence Koroma claimed that the security personnel forcefully took the recorder from him when they realized he was trying to get some sound bites from the rowdy school pupils who had clashed with the police.
He told Politico that he saw police shooting live rounds and wanted to record those sounds at Akram, in the east end of Freetown, when a police officer rushed at him, scolded him and started asking him all sorts of questions.
“He slapped me about three or more times, saying that we write all sorts of bad things against them and that we need to be treated”, he alleged, adding that he was beaten when other officers came to his rescue.
He claimed to have lost his mobile phone, wallet that contained some money, recorder, camera and other valuable materials in the ensuing attack.
Koroma said he was beaten in the full view of senior police personnel who did nothing and that he knew and could identify all of them if he saw them.
“Had it not been for the timely intervention of the minister of youth affairs, something serious would have happened to me”, he said, adding that he had reported the matter to the Ross Road Police Division where he was issued with a police medical paper to go for treatment.
Meanwhile, his station manager, Asmaa James, told Politico that they would not take the issue lightly.
“I have already contacted the President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Kelvin Lewis, and would officially lodge a formal complaint with the secretariat”, she said.
We could not reach the head of police media despite several calls.
© Politico 14/11/13
