By Alejandro Martínez
Reporters Without Borders condemned the arrest of four independent journalists in Mexico City on Sunday Sept. 1 while they covered a protest against the education reform proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto.
According to the organization, Gustavo Ruíz Lizárraga, with the Autonomous Communication Agency SubVersiones, was filming the arrest of several protesters when local authorities detained him as well and took him away on a police van, where Pável Alejandro Primo Noriega, with Multimedios Cronopios, was already there.
Ruíz Lizárraga was able to give his camera with the recording of his arrest to a colleague before he was taken away:
Authorities also detained Estela Morales of Regeneración Radio and independent journalist Alejandro Amadro Fraustro, who were released this Tuesday after posting bail, Proceso reported.
“Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of these journalists and that the charges against them be dropped. Their only crime was wanting to exercise their duties are reporters and guarantee citizens' rights to information," the organization said.
A fifth journalist, Daniel Cruz with newspaper Milenio, said he was injured by authorities during the coverage of the protests, RSF said.
Newspaper Reforma also covered the protests with a drone in what the daily described as possibly the first journalistic experiment with this technology in the country:
Despite the opposition of a large teachers' group, the Mexican Senate approved the education reform on Wednesday early morning.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
