Belarusian TV crew reportedly attacked in Ukrainian capital

UKRAINE

18 Dec 2012

Journalist Casualties: 0
Media Staff Casualties: 0
Under Investigation: 0

A crew of Belarusian [state-run] Nationwide TV (ONT) has said that it has been attacked by security guards at the department store Ukrayina in Kiev.

UNIAN learned the news from Kiev-based TV journalist Oleksiy Martynyuk, who had been accompanying the TV crew.

He said that the Belarusian journalists had been surveying passers-by near the entrance to Ukrayina, which is located in Victory Square in central Kiev. However, at some point, security guards ran out, yelling, "What are you doing here? Filming is prohibited here", and started pushing them, preventing them from filming. When they were asked not to obstruct the journalists, since they were not even inside the department store, the guards said that they needed a special permit for filming.

Martynyuk said that the Belarusian journalists had not sustained any serious injuries and their equipment had not been damaged.

The department store has declined to comment on the incident.

Meanwhile, the journalists have filed a complaint with a police station in the Shevchenkivskyy district.

Source: UNIAN news agency / BBC Monitoring