(Text of a Press Release Issued by the Action Committee for Media Freedom)

The Action Committee for Media Freedom believes that the government has to take full responsibility for the mob attack on the investigative journalism workshop organized by Transparency International for Tamil and Muslim journalists in the North, East and Colombo.

The workshop was to be held from June 6th till the 8th at the Goldisands Hotel in Negombo. However, a group of thugs who had arrived at the hotel on the 7th evening had threatened the organizers and the journalists participating in the event and had asked them to leave the hotel.

The so-called ranking officers of the police who were present at the venue had asked the journalists and the organisers to leave the premises as there was no other alternative and said that the police could provide security for them to leave the area. The police had even rejected the request by the organizers to allow the workshop to conclude the day’s proceedings since it was already evening by the time the mob had arrived at the hotel.

Finally, the hotel management had asked the Tamil and Muslim journalists to vacate the premises without allowing them to stay the night at the hotel. The journalists from the North, East and Colombo were then brought to Colombo to ensure their security and provided lodging at the Galadari Hotel.

The incident has shown that it was a false protest organized with state patronage and the Action Committee for Media Freedom therefore vehemently condemns the disruption of the workshop and the threatening of media personnel. The Action Committee also take this opportunity to remind the government that it is incidents such as these that has placed Sri Lanka among the top countries without media freedom.