I’m very pissed off with the Moroccan journalists who tried to gatecrash me on Thursday. The latest nonsense is on-line here and in French here. In case they take it down, the text is as follows:

Belgian MP, SNPM decry preventing Moroccan journalists from attending Polisario conference

Brussels, 12 Dec. 2008 (MAP)- Belgian MP Denis Ducarme questioned the Belgian Interior minister, Patrick Dewael, on the banning of Moroccan journalists and some Belgian civil society activists, Thursday, from attending a press conference, organized by the polisario separatists at the international press center in Brussels.    

The organizers had behaved in an aggressive manner against Moroccan journalists, who were unwelcome at what was called “a private meeting between diplomats and the press,” while opening widely the doors to the representatives of the Algerian media.    
Other journalists, MP Denis Ducarme, and several civil society actors were also denied access to the room to attend the press conference, that was announced by several media.    

In a question filed Friday to the interior minister, Ducarme  said he was on the spot and could see for himself that access to the conference venue was strictly regulated and that the Moroccan journalists have been denied entry to the room although they are members of the Association of Professional Journalists of Belgium (AGJPB) and hold press credentials issued by the Belgian interior ministry.    

The Belgian parliamentarian made it clear that it is everyone’s duty to “preserve our model of democracy” based on fundamental rights and public freedoms, including the freedom of the press.    

He also wondered whether the organizers of the press conference on Belgian soil were not subjected to the principles of the freedom of the press and the free access to accredited journalists.     

Morocco’s Press Union “Syndicat National de la Presse Marocaine” (SNPM) decried, in turn, this incident saying it is “grounded on neither legal nor professional bases”.    

Such attitude “unveils the organizers’ false claims about their commitment to human rights,” the SNPM said in a press release, documenting similar incidents that took place in Spain, Italy and France.

“Polisario” members have no right to do such things to the Moroccan journalists, who only fulfill their professional duty, the union added.    

The SNPM also sent letters on this incident to the Brussels-based Federation of International journalists, the Belgian Union of Journalists, Reporters without borders, and other international bodies, asking them to condemn these acts and issue a solemn protest to the “polisario”.

I love how I am the one who behaved “in an aggressive manner” by simply asking them to leave before we called the police; there’s obviously nothing aggressive at all about turning up with a crowd of ten people including two cameramen and demanding access to a private event.

It is news to me that Belgian law and customs allow anyone with a press card to attend anything that they want, whether or not they have been invited. I do hope that the Minister of the Interior contacts me as a result of Ducarme’s letter to clarify this.

Given what Morocco is doing in the occupied territories and to Saharawis living in Morocco proper, it’s pretty offensive to be accused of human rights violations for keeping a private event private.

I shall be seeing Ducarme on Thursday and look forward to clarifying with him if he is a unwitting stooge in these Moroccan propaganda stunts, which are essentially intimidation tactics, or if he is a willing stooge. I fear that the latter is more likely.

Meanwhile I’m glad to say that the actual meetings which I was organising went pretty well.