DAKAR (AFP) — Between 2,000 and 3,000 demonstrators rallied in Senegal's capital Dakar on Saturday to demand an end to a "campaign of demonization and intimidation" against the media.
Many were dressed in black as a sign of protest, and carried signs that said: "Stop the violence" and "No to police aggression".
The protest was organised by the Committee for the Defence and Protection of Journalists (CDPJ) set up by several media outlets.
"Today the Senegalese media united here (...) demand an end to the campaign of demonization, intimidation and the destruction of goods against the media which is only doing its job of informing public opinion," Ibrahima Khaliloullah Ndiaye, who contributes to the government newspaper Le Soleil, told the crowd.
Relations between the government of President Aboulaye Wade and the press have turned sour in recent months.
Last weekend two private newspapers had their offices ransacked by unidentified men.
The papers say the men arrived in government vehicles and pointed the finger at Transport Minister Farba Senghor, known for his outbursts against the media. The minister, a close confidant of Wade, denies the allegations.
"We are calling on the state to put a stop to the actions of Farba Senghor, who wants to install a reign of terror," Mamadou Iba Kane, director of the RFM radio station, owned by Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour, told AFP at the march.
"He is behind the attacks (on the newspapers) carried out by henchmen, so much is clear despite his denials," Kane added.
Tensions between private press owners and the authorities rose after police officers beat up two journalists at a football match on June 21.
Last month, Senghor called on all government agencies and public sector businesses to cancel their advertising contracts with media who supported Senegal's opposition parties.
The minister also issued a statement alleging he was being victimised by certain media outlets.
"There is no difference between verbal violence, written violence and physical violence," he said.
Earlier this week, he insisted that the freedom of the press "in its present outlines carries the seed of chronic insecurity for journalists and of the destruction of the foundation of our society".
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