cross-posted from: https://szmer.info/post/12640

“You don’t fight Belarusian disinformation with censorship,” said the General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Gutiérrez.

“On the contrary, journalists should be allowed to document the situation as it is. We cannot accept that a government should encourage this kind of ban on journalistic coverage as soon as a sensitive situation arises. We believe that the state of emergency was introduced mainly to prevent the public from witnessing questionable activities along the country’s border with Belarus. Critics have accused the Polish authorities of violating international law by pushing asylum seekers back across the border.”

Polish journalist Wojciech Bojanowski said on Twitter that the restrictions on Polish and international media meant that allegations circulating on Russian and Belarusian media that Polish security forces were tear gassing children were impossible to verify or debunk.