BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – A leading international human rights monitor demanded Thursday that Hungary stop “threatening and obstructing the work of journalists” after Hungarian police beat and harassed reporters covering Europe’s migration crisis. Hungarian police denied having beaten any journalists and said any reporters who were hurt in violence at the border have only themselves to blame.
Dunja Mijatovic, the media freedom representative for the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Hungarian police in recent days have beaten journalists, broken their equipment and forced them to delete footage. The incidents all have been confirmed by the affected news organizations.
“Such behavior is totally unacceptable, as it disregards the essential role of the media, and endangers the safety of journalists,” Mijatovic said in a statement.
In an unsigned statement, Hungarian police said its officers never harmed the journalists.
“Police categorically reject statements which take it as fact that police ‘beat up’ journalists,” the statement read.