Condemnation after photojournalist wounded during Paris protest

News organisations and media rights advocates have denounced and expressed shock at the injuries suffered by award-winning Syrian photojournalist Ameer Alhalbi during a protest in Paris against police brutality.

Alhalbi, a freelance photographer who has worked for Polka magazine and AFP news agency, was covering Saturday’s demonstrations opposing police violence and the French government’s plans to restrict sharing images of officers.

Dimitri Beck, Polka’s director of photography, said Alhalbi had suffered a broken nose and injured forehead and been taken to hospital. Photos showed Alhalbi’s face bruised, with much of his head covered in bandages.

Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, tweeted that the 24-year-old had been wounded at Place de la Bastille by “a police baton”.

“Ameer came from Syria to France to take refuge, like several other Syrian journalists. The land of human rights should not threaten them, but protect them,” he said in a second tweet, condemning the “intolerable” violence.

“We are shocked by the injuries suffered by our colleague Ameer alHalbi and condemn the unprovoked violence,” said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director.

“The injuries were sustained as he exercised his legal rights as a photojournalist documenting protests on the streets of Paris.”

Chetwynd demanded police officials investigate Alhalbi’s beating to ensure “all journalists are allowed to carry out their work without fear or restrictions”. ‘Shocking and reprehensible’

A statement from Polka magazine also condemned the “police aggression” against Alhalbi.

The magazine’s Director of Publication Alain Genestar said the incident was “all the more shocking and reprehensible” because he was clearly identified as a press photographer. Alhalbi has won several international awards, including second prize in the “Spot News” category for the World Press Photo in 2017, mainly for his coverage of the Syrian conflict in his home city Aleppo for AFP.

Police said on Sunday that two demonstrators had complained of being hurt by officers in protests outside Paris, while no count had yet been made in the capital itself.

Some 62 police officers were injured during the Saturday demonstrations, the interior ministry said, while 81 people were arrested.