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Alert

Journalist harassed by security guards

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 1 May 2009, journalist Pedro Dantas, of "O Estado de São Paulo" newspaper, was harassed by security guards while he was covering an inspection of Rio de Janeiro's sports facilities being carried out by a delegation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Rio de Janeiro has put in a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

The reporter was attempting to get into a subway car to accompany the delegation when three men who identified themselves as policemen stopped him and took him to a public toilet where they twisted one of his arms for trying to get into the subway without being properly accredited. The assailants phoned the newspaper to check if Dantas worked there. According to the reporter, the guards asked him where he lived and if he had any experience as a journalist.

According to the newspaper, Río's Security Department denied having sent officers to police the event, suggesting instead that they must have been private security guards.