Press freedom advocates, journalists and street vendors have criticised East Timor police for clearing stalls and detaining a reporter ahead of Pope Francis’s landmark visit.
The Catholic-majority nation of 1.3 million has rolled out the red carpet for Pope Francis, who is on a three-day visit to capital Dili as part of a wider Asia-Pacific tour.
But criticism has risen in the build-up to the pope’s visit, which began on Monday, after police action against street vendors and journalists covering the crackdown were linked to preparations for his arrival.
Footage emerged last week of a police operation to remove street vendors in an area where Pope Francis was set to travel in Dili.
The video showed vendors’ stalls being smashed by officers and masked people who were with them.
“They were brutal, wearing face masks like ninjas. Suddenly they attacked our stalls. I couldn’t do anything about it because they came with the police,” second-hand clothes seller Januario Soares, 40, told AFP on Monday.
“Then they yelled at us that we were insulting the government. We sell there to cover our basic needs. I feel violated. They made us look like criminals. We fought back only because they treated us like animals.”
Police subsequently detained local reporter Antonieta Kartono Martins for four hours and took the phone of another journalist, Suzana Cardoso, deleting her footage of the vendor clearance.
A Timorese journalist, who requested anonymity, said the attacks on vendors were a “violation of people’s economic rights” and linked the crackdown to the pope’s visit.
Local and international media advocacy groups condemned the incident.
“In a democracy like Timor-Leste, journalists should never have to face obstruction or arrest for covering events of public interest,” Cedric Alviani of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement Monday.
East Timor Journalist’s Association president Zevonia Vieira told AFP the police action “undermined… democratic values and human rights”, contravening articles in the country’s constitution that protect freedom of the press and expression.
The presidential office did not respond to a request for comment but RSF said Jose Ramos-Horta told police he opposed any obstruction of the work of journalists.
Asia’s youngest state, which secured independence from Indonesia in 2002, ranks 20th in RSF’s press freedom ranking and incidents of media repression are considered rare.
