In Kyiv, police officers attacked LB.ua photo reporter after Equality March

On June 18, in Kyiv police officers attacked the photo reporter а LB.ua Maksym Trebukhov, LB.ua reports.

The incident took place after the March of Equality “KyivPride-2017”. Trebukhov was returning from Leo Tolstoy Square, where the march for LGBT rights finished, and decided to look at the situation near the red building of the Shevchenko University, where the police had blocked the representatives of the right forces.

“At the time everything was winding down and people were leaving. I went along a Red Cross paramedic on a sidewalk towards Shevchenko Boulevard. Near the yellow building, we noticed cops trying to detain somebody. I raised my camera to film it. This very moment, a police officer with no insignia and in protective gear and helmet ran up to me and started to interfere with my filming”, shared the photo reporter. “When I told him I was a journalist and – and my ID was hanging on my neck – and reminded him that he was violating Article 171 of the Criminal Code, he began to punch at my camera and tried to take it away. I grasped my ID to show them I was a journalist and tried to hold on to my camera so they wouldn’t take it away. Another police officer punched me several times”.

Finally, Trebukhov managed to escape the crowd of police officers (in the process he was kicked several times), and called the police and wrote a complaint in the patrol car.

The media outlet points out that it was two police officers who were immediately attacking the journalist, while the others blocked the pathways around them and did not try to stop their colleagues.