A total of four journalists in Nabire Regency, Central Papua, on Friday (5/4/2024) were allegedly prevented by the police from covering a demonstration held by the Papuan People's Front for Human Rights. At that time, the masses carried out an action following the abuse of civilians in Puncak by TNI personnel.

Apart from being blocked from reporting, some of them also experienced beatings.

Based on information gathered by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jayapura, the four journalists, Elias Douw (wagadei.id), Kristianus Degey (seputarpapua.com), Yulianus Degei (tribun-papua.com), and Melkianus Dogopia (tadahnews.com) .

AJI Jayapura Chairman Lucky Ireeuw explained that initially the four wanted to cover the demonstration. He said Elias Douw, a journalist at wagadei.id, admitted that he arrived at the demonstration location at 08.00 WIT. At that time a number of police asked Elias where the media came from.

Elias then explained the origin of the media. After 23 minutes, the authorities fired tear gas five times, after which the protesters and police officers started making noise.

Next, four police officers approached Elias and shouted at him, 'wee little boy, come home, what are you doing here.' Some of the police officers brought rattan and wanted to hit him. Because he was afraid, Elias ran while being chased by the police.

"Apart from that, when confirmed by Kristianus Degey, a journalist at karetpapua.com admitted that his party had gone down and covered the demonstration by students and the Papuan people. When he arrived there, he took out journalistic equipment such as a cellphone to record videos or take photos, but several police officers reacted and approached him and asked in a loud tone, 'What did the dog do? Quickly delete the videos and photos,'" Lucky said in his statement, quoted by Suara.com, Saturday (6/4/2024).

The cellphone used by Kristianus to record was taken by the police. He then went to the Nabire Police to pick it up. There he was asked not to cover, 'you are not allowed to cover and you are out of this place. You come out quickly, you don't need to cover it.'

Meanwhile, Yulianus Degei, a journalist for Tribun-Papua.com, admitted that he was attacked by a number of police officers while covering a demonstration in the Wadio area, Nabire. This started when a number of police officers approached him and asked for his press card.

Not long after, he received violence in the form of a beating on his head. At that time Yulianus was wearing a helmet. Not only that, the police confiscated his work equipment, such as his cell phone.

Then, Melkianus Dogopia, a journalist for tadahnews.com, encountered obstacles when reporting. Even though he had shown his press card, he was still asked to turn around and not report.