The Covid-19 pandemic “has exacerbated an alarming trend: violence against journalists is on the rise”, warns the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, in an article published on Friday 30 April.
Attackers, she says, can be protesters themselves (often conspiratorial or opposed to health measures) as well as infiltrated groups. This was the case in Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Austria and Portugal.
Ms Mijatović stressed, “assemblies should be preserved...