NEW DELHI: Journalists marched silently around the Press Club of India (PCI) building Tuesday, condemning the detention of and alleged assault on mediapersons covering recent protests against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged manipulation of electoral rolls.Following the march, PCI stated on X, “Attacks on journalists carrying out their professional duties are unacceptable and undermine the fundamental right of the media to report freely and fearlessly.”A press meeting was held before the march, with several journalists, including those from prominent magazines and digital news platforms, sharing their experience of reporting the protests.Reporters alleged they were heckled, assaulted and threatened by security personnel who detained them for hours even after being shown valid press ID cards. Sarthak Jaiswal, a journalist from The Quint, claimed police demanded cards issued by Press Information Bureau (PIB) and detained people with organisation IDs for “verification using a database of journalists”.Veteran journalist Sreenivasan Jain said, “One can assume that this overreaction is a result of the regime feeling threatened… The attempt is to particularly target younger journalists, digital media and those who are seen as independent and critical of the regime.”PCI president Sangeeta Pisharoty said, “How can the state or police decide who is and who is not a journalist? The past few days have been an attack on the right to work of journalists.” She added that PIB cards provided security clearance for journalists to enter govt buildings and were not a criterion for practising journalism.“We need to understand that this affects all of us… We must ensure that every journalist in the field feels that we have their backs,” said diplomatic editor of The Hindu Suhasini Haider.Pisharoty said the meeting was an effort to document what should not be done to journalists in a democracy.