Journalists from the LN+ and C5N signals were threatened with firearms and beaten on the floor this Wednesday in the Las Antenas neighborhood of Lomas del Mirador, while covering drug trafficking.
While journalist Ignacio Damonte reported live for LN+ on territorial disputes between different criminal gangs in that area of La Matanza, they began to be rebuked and insulted, and then forced to lie on the asphalt face down.
The images, recorded by the live broadcast of the news channel and by the camera of one of the victims, reveals how they are subjected near a white vehicle, until it appears, on the right of the plane, a young man dressed in a light shirt, shorts that would be from a team of the promotion categories of Argentine football and white sneakers.
The aggressor is the one who hits them and points at their heads, does it again from a greater distance and kicks the camera.
"Take them, give them," is the cry of an accomplice in the midst of a cascade of insults to those who fulfilled their journalistic work.
"We're leaving, we're leaving," they replied. They got up, left and, minutes later, with greater tranquility, gave details to the drivers on duty in the canal.
"This happens now and nobody does anything. There were no policemen," Damonte explained to Marina Calabró, who had consulted him about the environment of the event.
"They pointed a gun at us," Damonte explained on LN+ moments after the situation.
And then he remarked: "Jonathan (the cameraman) and I are fine. The situation was very dangerous. We knew that we were approaching a neighborhood that is being co-opted by the narcos, that is the underlying situation. Today when we arrived we went two blocks further and tried to see how we could go live. We approached 20 meters to tell what was happening and then left, because it was not a safe area."
According to what Damonte himself told Clarín, from the Departmental of La Matanza they contacted him to inform him that the aggressors are being sought, despite "not having much data."
On behalf of Mayor Fernando Espinoza came another message for the victims, although "everything is very brief," said the journalist.
The attack on journalists, step by step
Chroniclers of the LN+ and C5N signals reported live from different sectors of the neighborhood.
Ignacio Damonte recounted: "When a colleague of ours from C5N, 'El Turco', arrives and the cameraman who works with him, who also suffered the theft of their work items, two young people appear who begin to say something to them. I see it from afar, it was going on the air. I can't tell you have a silver-colored gun."
As he continued broadcasting, he said one of the men approached the LN+ cameraman from behind.
"Jonathan was on his back and the offender puts the gun to his head and throws him to the ground. Afterwards, he also points at me and throws me to the floor. Then he kicks the camera and we have to put our hands on the floor. Then, they start threatening us," he recalled.
In addition, Damonte said a girl approached and asked the men to stop the attack. Then, the aggressors left and the victims took advantage to escape.
"From afar you hear them telling us, 'Stay, stay.' But the truth is that no, with a gun in between not (...) That was the situation that was experienced. It is a dangerous area, but it is one step away from becoming an area of collection and production of drugs," the story concluded.
.DB
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