THU 28 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Jun 16, 2011
Source: The Daily Star
Attackers raid AFP’s Amman office, protesters want agency expelled

AMMAN: Ten men broke into AFP’s offices in the Jordanian capital Wednesday and destroyed furniture, two days after the news agency was among several foreign media to report that King Abdullah II’s motorcade had been stoned.
“Ten men armed with sticks broke into the office and started to destroy everything in their way, the furniture and the equipment,” said AFP journalist Kamal Taha, who was alone in the office when the attack took place.
He said he managed to escape through a back door, before neighbors called the police who arrived after the attackers fled.


The attack came a few hours after AFP bureau chief Randa Habib received a threatening telephone call saying: “I will make you pay dearly,” and accusing her of “undermining the security of Jordan.”
Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit telephoned Habib to “check on the situation.” “I am relieved that no journalist was injured. This is an unacceptable action,” he said, adding that he will “consult with the interior minister on the issue.”
A police car that is parked outside the offices of satellite news channel Al-Jazeera, a few meters from the AFP building, apparently did not notice the attack against news agency.


Police have been protecting Al-Jazeera since the Qatar-based channel received threats in mid-March.
On Monday, AFP quoted a security official as saying that “[the rear] part of King Abdullah’s motorcade was attacked with stones and empty bottles by a group of men in their 20s and 30s after the king’s car entered Tafileh.”
Other international media carried similar reports of Monday’s incident.
They were vigorously denied by the palace, government officials and MPs.
Some 300 Jordanians demonstrated Tuesday outside AFP’s offices in Amman, calling for the bureau’s closure. 



 
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