Police beat up journalist with Hromadske, who video-streamed rally near government office
On April 29 under the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv; the police beat up a citizen journalist with Hromadske, who was on live standup and broke his equipment, as Hromadske reported it.
The incident occurred during the protest rally of entrepreneurs community under the Cabinet of Ministers, the businessmen came to contest several restrictions measures imposed under lockdown.
The journalist Bohdan Kutepov together with his colleague Mykyta Mekenzin stood on the hill in the park in front of the Cabinet of Ministers and covered the protest rally. Reporters were approached by several TOR police officers (a patrol police unit for enforcement of public order) and told them to leave the scene. Kutepov explained that he had a "service necessity" to take ppictures from the place where protest was best seen. Instead, the law enforcement officers used force to push them out.
Kutepov also asked why they should leave that place, to which the police officer said: "You either take away it (the camera. - Ed. ), or I will break it." Saying these words, they lashed out at the journalists and kicked them out of the lawn. The incident happened while being shot live.
Then, the police got indignant that the journalist continued to shoot, they threatened him to break the camera. So they broken the stabilizing device.
The live broadcast had to be interrupted. The journalists called the police and filed complaint. Kutepov expects the law enforcement officers to reimburse the cost of damaged equipment and apologize for the attack.
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