French journalists stage die-in to protest Israel's killing of reporters in Gaza
About 200 French journalists staged a die-in in Paris and Marseille on Wednesday evening to protest Israel's killing of Palestinian journalists and show solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza.
Wearing press vests marked with symbolic red stains, the journalists lay on the steps of the Opera Bastille in the French capital as the names of colleagues killed since the start of the war in October 2023 were read aloud.
They held placards featuring photos of the slain journalists alongside the slogan: 'Gaza: faces, not just numbers.'
In the southern city of Marseille, around 160 people gathered for a similar tribute, reading out the names of the victims and observing a minute of silence.
'As journalists, it is our duty to express our solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues and to demand, time and again, the right to enter Gaza,' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement following the protest.
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'We support and protect, through our presence, our Palestinian colleagues who demonstrate unmatched courage in sending us images and testimonies of the immense tragedy unfolding in Gaza.'
Media professionals from at least 36 publications, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), Radio France, Mediapart, Arte and BFM TV, participated in the die-in, alongside some freelance journalists.
Journalist organisations, including the European Federation of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, supported the protest.
'Silence witnesses'
Israel's war on Gaza has killed nearly 200 Palestinian media professionals so far according to press freedom groups such as RSF, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, working with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Foreign journalists have been barred from reporting from Gaza, except for rare visits under strict Israeli military escort.
At the rally in Paris, a journalist told Middle East Eye about changing perceptions in French newsrooms regarding the coverage of the war in Gaza.
Israel's war on Gaza 'worst ever conflict' for journalists: Report Read More »
'I'm part of a group of journalists of colour, and the silence surrounding the genocide in Gaza is really resonating with us. It is something we long couldn't talk about in our work,' Celia Gueuti, a journalist for Radio France, told MEE.
'Talking about Gaza had become somewhat taboo. When you want to talk about it, you're perceived as an activist and not a journalist, and you're accused of talking about the war only because of the racial aspect of it. It's something we've often been silenced about,' she added.
'I'm happy that our white French colleagues are now speaking out.'
A statement released by the organisers ahead of the rally also mourned the deaths of four Israeli journalists killed in the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, as well as nine Lebanese and one Syrian journalist killed in Israeli strikes.
'But the urgent situation is in Gaza,' the statement read.
'The Israeli army is seeking to impose a media blackout on Gaza - to silence, as much as possible, witnesses of the war crimes committed by its troops,' it added.
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