Red shirts raise journos' ire

Red shirts raise journos' ire

A group of journalists on the parliament beat yesterday called on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to look into alleged intimidation of the press by red shirts.

A man is held by red shirts who tried to block him from laying a wreath outside Parliament in a protest against House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont. Some MPs say the speaker lacked neutrality during the government policy debate in the House this week.

In an open letter to Ms Yingluck, the reporters said they were concerned about an email hate campaign being conducted among red shirts who claimed to be supporters of Pheu Thai.
The emails expressed disappointment over news coverage of Ms Yingluck and singled out a Channel 7 female reporter.
The e-mails included a photo of the woman and her name, with the remarks "Remember her face", and "Take care of her when you see her".
The call by the reporters coincided with an incident outside parliament yesterday when red shirts allegedly assaulted two men who were laying a wreath outside the House in protest against House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont.
Yutthaphum Tanleg and Arthit Poonsiri were confronted by at least 10 red shirts who were camping out in front of parliament.
Dozens of red shirts had amassed outside parliament to mark the occasion of the government's policy statement delivery and surrounded the two men, destroying their wreath and beating them up.
Police tried to step in, but failed to act, because they were outnumbered.
Eventually other red shirts interceded and pulled the two away to safety, he said.
Mr Yutthaphum said he came to protest against Mr Somsak because he had failed to do his job properly during debate on the government's policy statement.
The assault came on the heels of news that red shirts had intimidated a female reporter from China's CCTV news agency on Tuesday.
The reporter was said to be wearing a yellow outfit when she stood amid red shirts to report on their rally.
The red shirts surrounded her and tried to prevent her from doing her job.
They let up only after the reporter's interpreter convinced them to stop.
Democrat MP Sathit Wongnongtoey yesterday brought the assaults to the attention of parliament.
Prime Minister Yingluck said she would assign Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung to investigate.
Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit condemned attempts to intimidate reporters. "The press has a code of ethics to govern its members," he said. "The public will be the judge if any fail to keep true to that code."