UN
Bans ICP from
Premises, Even
As Guest,
Can't Cover
UNSC or
Briefing
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 22 --
After Inner
City Press was
summarily
ejected from
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
on February
19, the
ostensibly
deciding
official
Cristina
Gallach told
no less than
Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Jose Ramos
Horta that
Inner City
Press would
still be able
to cover the
UN, under a
reduced
access.
But
when Inner
City Press
came to the UN
on Monday
morning, with
another
journalist
there to sign
Inner City
Press in as a
guest, UN
Security said,
“You are
Banned from
the UN.”
Inner City
Press called
Gallach - in a
meeting, left
message - and
Ban Ki-moon's
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
who'd also
told those who
questioned him
that Inner
City Press
could end and
cover “his”
briefing on
Monday.
False.
UN Security
then said, you
cannot wait in
the pass
office, you
are banned
from all UN
premises.
Trying to
cover the UN
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria from the
Isaiah
plowshares
park across
from the UN,
various
Ambassadors
came to say
they were
appalled. But
Gallach's
office has
told then,
nothing will
be done.
This is
disgusting
censorship by
an
increasingly
corrupt UN.
As Inner City
Press at the
UN pursues
unfolding
stories of
corruption,
peacekeepers
committing
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic, UN
inaction in
Burundi, South
Sudan and
Yemen, on
February 19
with two hours
notice UN
Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach
ordered Inner
City Press to
be ousted. Letter here.
On the evening
of February
19, UN
Security
Deputy Chief
Michael
McNulty, who
refused to
provide his
name (audio),
pushed Inner
City Press out
onto First
Avenue (audio),
having cut off
its Periscope
video
livestream (video) and not allowed it to get
its files,
coat or
passport from
its longtime
shared office.
Gallach wants
the office
back, to
retaliate and
so the UN
Correspondents
Association
can, in
essence, sell
the UN space
just as it
sells access
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
On
February 20,
Inner City
Press posed
four questions
to Dujarric
and his deputy
Farhan Haq,
with a copy to
Gallach
--which 24
hours later
have not been
answered or
even
acknowledged
(while both
Dujarric and
Gallach were
wildly
spinning to
those who
contacted
them,
including Nobel
Laureate Jose
Ramos Horta,
see here,
who was told
there was no
problem taking
over Inner
City Press'
office and
undermining
its ability to
report, edit
videos,
conduct
interviews.
There is a big
problem. Here
are the
questions:
"Please state
the status and
condition of
all of my
papers and
property in my
office, Room
S-303A,
including
investigative
papers,
communications
from sources
including
whistleblowers
and my
passport and
when I will
have the
access to them
that I was
denied on
February 19
and since.
Please state
when the
Resident
Correspondent
UN pass I have
had for years,
but which was
torn off my
neck on Feb
19, will be
returned, in
connection
with 1, above,
and the UNSC
meeting(s) and
UN Noon
Briefing on
Monday
February 22.
Please state
and explain
the role of
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
of the
Secretary
General in the
deprivations
in 1 and 2,
above.
Finally, for
now, please
state the
Secretary-General's
position on UN
Security
Deputy McNulty
on February 19
threatening
twice to have
me “handed
over to NYPD”
(including the
concomitant
acceptance by
the UN of the
NYPD's
jurisdiction),
of UN Security
officers
grabbing my
phone which
was
live-broadcasting
Periscope
video at the
UN Security
Council
stakeout and
turning it
off.
I have other
questions but
these are most
pressing, for
immediate
answer."
And as
yet, 34 hours
later, no
answer. Watch
this site.
While
Inner City
Press was
writing up a
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Syria that
went into the
evening, and
Periscope
broadcasting,
UN Security
guards walked
up, grabbed
Inner City
Press' laptop,
blocked its
Periscope
camera and
turned off the
livestream. Video here.
Then
eight UN
Security
officers led
by Deputy
Chief McNulty
tore off Inner
City Press' UN
ID badge and
carted off
Inner City
Press' laptop
and camera,
returning
these by
throwing them
on the
sidewalk of
First Avenue.
Audio
here.
They did
not allow
Inner City
Press to get
coat or
sweater, or
the files in
its office. No
provision was
made for this.
The
ejection
letter was
signed by the
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Galach of
Spain but
ultimately
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon is in
charge. Ban
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
and Deputy SG
Jan Eliasson
were all
written to
with details
as this took
place.
When
Inner City
Press was
thrown out
onto First
Avenue,
standing
waiting,
laughing and
filming, was
Voice of
America's
Margaret
Besheer and
another board
member of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
whose
president
Giampaoli
Pioli told
Inner City
Press if it
didn't remove
a (truthful)
article about
his screening
of a war
crimes denial
film for a
tenant of his,
Sri Lanka's
then
ambassador
Palitha
Kohona, he
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
But who
is running
this asylum?
Ban Ki-moon,
his spokesman
also involved
Stephane
Dujarric (who
threw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
January 29,
also trying to
turn off ICP's
Periscoping
phone), and,
some surmise,
some who don't
like Inner
City Press'
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
The
pretext was
Inner City
Press three
weeks earlier
seeking to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
by an
organization
which has
taken money
from now
indicted Ng
Lap Seng and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South SOuth
News, then
gave Ng Lap
Seng a photo
op with Ban.
(As Inner City
Press
reported,
Gallach
attended the
South South
Awards with
Frank Lorenzo,
photo
here, just
before his
indictment.
She should
have been
recused from
any
decision-making
on this.)
, 
