KATHMANDU, Oct 31: Journalists staged a silent protest at Maitighar Mandala on Saturday morning against the arrest of journalists and police raids on media houses.
Organized by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), the one-hour protest featured placards demanding press freedom, the restoration of democracy and respect for newsroom independence.
Mr Speaker, Either Prove or Apologize!
On Friday, police arrested Bishwamani Subedi of Nepal Press, Dhiraj Basnet of DNA Khabar and Shobhraj Baral of Motivate News. Plainclothes police officers also searched for Diyopost editors Sudip Bishwakarma and Rita Budhathoki, and Naya Patrika journalist Nawaraj Mainali.
The arrests drew widespread criticism from journalists, political parties and Press Council Nepal.
Shortly after the arrests, the Prime Minister's Secretariat said it had neither directed the arrests nor been informed about the deployment of plain-clothed police officers to newsrooms. However, Nepal Police said in a statement issued around midnight Friday that the journalists had been summoned following the Prime Minister's Office's interest.
The two statements contradicted each other over the circumstances surrounding the arrests.
