CHANDIGARH: Journalists of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh today staged a protest here against the murder of a journalist of a weekly tabloid in Bengaluru, expressing concerns about the growing attack on the journalists across the country.

Gauri Lankesh, 55, the editor and publisher of the Kannada language Gauri Lankesh Patrike, was shot dead on Tuesday by unidentified assailants near her home in Bengaluru. 

Holding placards, several journalist groups, under the banner of the Chandigarh Press Club, held protests in Sector 17 shopping complex.

Describing the killing as the “blackest day in the history of journalism”, Club Senior Vice-President Saurabh Duggal demanded protection to all the journalists to ensure the freedom of the Press. 

He said the government should crack the case without any delay and arrest the assailants. 

“This is a fight for ideologies. If the communal forces are thinking that they are going to suppress the thinking of others through violence, this will not be going to happen,” Duggal said.

It was high time for the journalists to come together and raise their voice against the continual incidents of silencing the voice of the media persons, senior journalist Sandeep Dixit said.