IMC TV blacked out
ISTANBUL (DİHA) – Police forces raiding IMC TV headquarters blacked out the channel during live broadcast.
IMC TV was one of the 12 TV channels --alongside 11 radio stations-- which were determined to be shut off through a decree by the AKP government, and the live broadcast was blacked out by the police forces in a raid in located TV's center İstanbul-Eyüp. The spar between the police and IMC TV coordinator-in-chief EyüpBurç was also broadcast live. EyüpBurç reacted to the police during the raid, exclaiming “Why are you hiding your faces? Hooray hell for the cruel!”
The police officers were also protested by the channel employees. The employees gathered in the live broadcast studio and reacted with one voice chanting “Freedom for press is a human right! Free press cannot be silenced!”. Channel employees delivered speeches to state that the silenced IMC TV has been put on the target as it frightens the government with its mission it takes on from the outset.
Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) chair KaniBeko and the Press Workers' Union (Basın-İş) chair FarukEren visited the studio in an act of solidarity. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP MithatSancar and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair LeylaGüven attended live in phone calls to react against the raid. Sterk TV shared IMC TV’s live broadcast to inform the public audience about the latest events.
The police conducted a search in the TV building, muted the sound of the broadcast, and went on to black out the IMC TV screen.
(ls)
