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US National Press Club president Mike Balsamo said journalists “were not caught in the crossfire – they were targeted”. In a post on X, he called for the LAPD to investigate all reported incidents of reporters being targeted by police.
The Los Angeles Press Club has recorded two dozen incidents of journalists being shot with non-lethal bullets, hit with tear gas and pushed by law enforcement officers.
A New York Times reporter was shot with non-lethal bullets before being assessed at hospital; an LA Daily News reporter was tear-gassed and struck with pepper balls; and British freelance photographer Nick Stern had emergency surgery to remove a 7.5 centimetre plastic bullet from his leg.
Protesters carried photographer Nick Stern to safety after he had been shot with a plastic bullet.Credit: AP
“There was something hard sticking out of the back of my leg and my leg was getting wet from blood,” he told the BBC. “I suddenly got this terrific pain on my leg.”
A New York Post photographer was shot in the head, resulting in whiplash and bruising, and CNN journalist Jason Carroll was briefly detained live on air and escorted out of a protest zone by police.
Katherine Jacobsen of The Committee to Protect Journalists said the organisation was “greatly concerned” by reports of police shooting reporters.
“Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,” she said. “It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media’s role of documenting issues of public interest.”
On Monday, Nine’s US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot with a non-lethal round as she covered the protests live on air. The LAPD is investigating .
Tomasi told Nine it was “just one of the unfortunate realities of reporting on these kinds of incidents”.
“It has been a really volatile day on the streets of Los Angeles. There have been a lot of tempers flaring here today and certainly tonight there is a lot of anger in the City of Angels.”
Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot by police with a rubber bullet while covering the protest.Credit: Nine News
The union representing Australian journalists said Tomasi appeared to have been “deliberately shot” while speaking to the camera. Federal Greens senator Nick McKim also called it deliberate, telling Today it was a “cowardly act”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the shooting on Tuesday.
“[That was] an Australian journalist doing what journalists do at their very best … In LA, it is not unreasonable to think that she would not have been targeted with a rubber bullet,” he said.
The Trump administration authorised the deployment of thousands of members of the National Guard and 700 marines to Los Angeles after two days of protests against federal immigration raids in the city.
The protests are now in their fifth day and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has declared a local emergency in the city. She has imposed a curfew in the city’s downtown.
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