ISTANBUL (AA) – A group of Egyptian journalists gathered Tuesday night in Istanbul to protest pressures on the media in their country.
More than 30 Egyptian journalists gathered to condemn the situation that the security forces raided the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists’ offices in Cairo on Sunday.
They met in the headquarters of Watan TV – an Istanbul-based news channel that broadcasts in Arabic – and called for the release of their colleagues who were arrested while they were holding a sit-in in solidarity with other detained journalists.
On Sunday, police broke into the syndicate in central Cairo, arresting two journalists on charges of inciting protests and plotting to overthrow the ruling regime.
In Istanbul, Sherif Mansour, the spokesman of the Arab Observatory for Media Freedom, stated the Press Syndicate was established in 1941 and that it had never faced such a situation before.
The group also called for the resignation of Egyptian Interior Minister, Magdy Abdel Ghaffar as he allowed the police raid in the building.
The European Union also called for the release of those detained and described the situation as “a worrying development, and continues a trend of restricting space for civil society and the freedom of expression.”
