Media activists Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) has condemned the red shirts movement for allegedly harassing journalists during a demonstration yesterday.

Geramm said they have received complaints from journalists over the matter and have viewed a video clip depicting a masked protestor harassing a journalist.

The group also claimed that several protestors also accused media personnel of blocking their short march to Malaysiakini's office.

"Geramm regrets the rough shod ways in which supporters of Umno-linked red shirts had treated the media that covered their protest outside Malaysiakini's office in Petaling Jaya yesterday...

"Geramm in our struggle is consistent towards upholding the rights of all media practitioners to perform their duties and we urge all parties to do the same," it said in a statement today.

The red shirts were protesting the funding of several Malaysian organisations, including Malaysiakini, by international grant making organisation Open Society Foundations (OSF), operated by billionaire George Soros.

Sungai Besar Umno division head Jamal Md Yunos, the leader of the red shirts, claimed that Soros was responsible for the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and engineered revolutions worldwide.

He claimed that OSF was now trying to interfere in Malaysian elections.

An estimated 700 people took part in the protest. About 100 police personnel kept watch and prevented them from getting too close to Malaysiakini's office.

Malaysiakini's senior editors had met Jamal on Thursday and explained that the OSF grant was used for its sister site KiniTV to produce news reports related to Sarawak, while the rest of its operations are fully funded through subscription and advertising.

At a press conference yesterday after the protest, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said it is impossible for outsiders or even its own shareholders to control its editorial policy, which is in full control of its journalists.