Telmo Gama

Gender: Male
Video Journalist

On January 10, six reporters working for news outlets TV Zimbo and TV Palanca were assaulted by unidentified people and forced to flee to safety while reporting on a nationwide strike by taxi drivers in the capital Luanda, according to media reports and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ by telephone. The nationwide strike was in protest of COVID-19 restrictions, poor state of roads, demands for social security benefits, and a call for the end to alleged extortion by police, according to media reports.Around 7 a.m. on January 10, Campos was first to arrive at the main taxi rank in Luanda’s suburb of Benfica, as the drivers began preparations to block roads, he told CPJ. Initially, demonstrators welcomed the media attention, saying they should report on what was happening, however, attitudes changed when he began filming the vandalism and arson attack on a building owned by the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party. “Someone started to shout that we were ‘sellouts,’” Campos said, adding that he and Gama left the scene to try and find a safe spot to do their reporting. Gama told CPJ that he was holding a microphone with the Zimbo TV logo while Campos held the camera when they were again confronted by protesters and street vendors who joined them in pushing the journalists and yelling insults. Protestors set documents and equipment from the trashed office on fire; Campos was punched at least four times on his left shoulder and a burning MPLA T-shirt was thrown at him, according to Campos.

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