Tuesday, January 21, 2014

RCMP deny report about roughing up Palestinian journalist


RCMP deny report about roughing up Palestinian journalist


 


Read more: http://www.canada.com/RCMP+deny+report+about+roughing+Palestinian+journalist/9408676/story.html#ixzz2r2ps0WKu


RCMP deny report about roughing up Palestinian journalist
 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen visit Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel, on Sunday, January 19, 2014.

Photograph by: CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick , Postmedia News

























JERUSALEM — The RCMP says flatly it was not involved in an alleged incident in which Palestinian journalists claim a reporter was “punched” by one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s security guards.
“We are aware of reports of the alleged incident,” said RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Lucy Shorey Monday. “We can confirm that the RCMP was not involved in this alleged incident.”
No Canadian journalist witnessed the reported dustup, which is alleged by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)  to have taken place in Bethlehem, where the prime minister visited the Church of the Nativity, built on top of the grotto where it is said Jesus Christ was born. The prime minister’s spokesman on the trip, Jason MacDonald, also said that he didn’t witness the alleged incident.
Because there was not much space at the church, Canadian journalists travelling with Harper were limited to a small group filing a “pool report” to the others. The pool reporter, from the Canadian Press, said the incident occurred when a videographer from the prime minister’s office was let into the church before Canadian and Palestinian journalists. But the CP reporter said she saw no one being punched and the entire group was eventually let inside.
However, MADA released a statement Monday in which it condemned what it called an “attack” on a TV cameraman, Amer Hijazi.
The group cited a journalist, Mousa Al Shaer, who said that once they entered the church, the Palestinians were prevented from filming and protested. “But the guard punched … Hijazi by a metal piece on his fist to Hijazi’s chest.”
mkennedy@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/Mark_Kennedy_


Read more: http://www.canada.com/RCMP+deny+report+about+roughing+Palestinian+journalist/9408676/story.html#ixzz2r2pSQioU

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