When Portuguese public broadcasters RTP and RDP, and the news agency Lusa, were suddenly blocked in Guinea-Bissau on August 15, one of the first to feel the effects was Indira Correia Balde. "It started when our colleague Fatima Tchuma Camara, a Guinean working for RDP, was denied access to the presidential palace. Later, I was excluded from covering government matters for RTP Africa. Broadcasts by RTP and RDP were repeatedly blocked," the head of Guinea-Bissau's journalists' union, SINJOTECS, told DW. She said the expulsions were "anti-democratic" and described an atmosphere of growing fear since President Umaro Sissoco Embalo came to power in 2020. Balde said journalists are being "systematically obstructed in their work, publicly insulted, and prevented from doing their jobs" and called for an "immediate reversal of this decision and to protect jobs." Indira Correia Baldé, president of the Guiné-Bissau journalists' unionIndira Correia Baldé, president of the Guiné-Bissau journalists' union Indira Correia Balde, president of the Bissau-Guinean journalists' union said the suspension of Portuguese media was part of a wider pattern of attacks on press freedomImage: DW/Braima Darame International condemnation Several international organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Newsroom (ENR), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), have strongly criticized the expulsions. Sadibou Marong, RSF's West Africa director, told DW the government's shutdown of the media networks closure was a "severe blow to press freedom." "To this day they have given no official explanation. All indications point to an arbitrary measure. RSF urges the government to immediately lift the suspension," Marong said. Asked whether independent reporting during the election campaign was at risk, Marong said: "This shutdown, imposed three months before the elections, suggests the authorities intend to restrict and influence coverage." Marong pointed to attacks in recent attacks on journalists, citing an armed attack in 2022 on the private station Capital FM, and multiple reporters being arrested and intimidated during demonstrations. "We fear the remaining journalists will come under increasing pressure and will no longer be able to report freely and independently," he said.