By Helen Coster
(Reuters) -Journalists have been among those injured during protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles in recent days, as police clashed with crowds of protesters and fired less-lethal munitions to disperse them.
Since confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement first flared over the weekend, more than 30 cases of “police violence” against journalists while covering the protests have been reported, according to a database maintained by the Los Angeles Press Club.
The press club includes physical violence as well as efforts to impair journalists’ coverage, such as nonconsensual bag searches, in the category. It updates its database with reports from journalists and incidents reported on social media.
Some of the incidents have resulted in injuries.
Lauren Tomasi, U.S. correspondent for 9News Australia, was hit by a projectile while reporting live in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. Tomasi had her back to police and was speaking into the camera when an officer pointed a weapon toward her and fired it, according to a video of the incident.
Toby Canham, a freelance photographer working for the New York Post, said he was struck by a projectile on Sunday, resulting in a bruised forehead. In an interview he said the projectile, which was “hard and rubbery,” knocked him to the ground. The Post published an image shot by Canham showing a law enforcement official that he said had fired at him from about 100 yards (91 meters) away.
Tomasi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Matt Stanton, CEO of 9News parent company Nine, in a statement called the incident “shocking” and emphasized the need for a formal investigation.
A photo editor at the New York Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The press club said it was aware of 20 injuries to journalists during the LA protests, including at least five that required medical attention.
While Reuters established that at least two journalists were injured, the news agency could not independently confirm whether Tomasi or Canham were targeted because they are journalists. Reuters also could not confirm the press club’s figures.
In remarks to Australia’s National Press Club on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tomasi was targeted as a journalist and that Australia has raised the issue with the Trump administration.
An LAPD spokesperson did not confirm it had launched an investigation into the Tomasi incident, but highlighted a press release stating that its professional standards bureau “will be investigating allegations of excessive force and other issues related to LAPD actions during the protests.” It is unclear whether those allegations relate to Tomasi.
Other journalists included in the database said they were tear-gassed alongside protesters, kept in a small area, or had their bags searched by law enforcement without their consent.
Asked about the incidents involving journalists, a White House spokesperson highlighted the risks to law enforcement officers and the public.
“Whenever violent, left-wing rioters engage in lawless behavior, they put innocent bystanders at risk,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
She added that Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “refused to quell the violent riots” and are “directly responsible for putting civilians in harm’s way.”
Spokespeople for Newsom and Bass did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Bass, a Democrat, has said protests have been “largely peaceful”, but there have also been incidents of protesters hurling projectiles at police, burning cars and looting.
INADEQUATE TRAINING?
Adam Rose, the press club’s press rights chair, said the volume of incidents involving members of the media over just four days is unprecedented in Los Angeles.
The high frequency could reflect a number of factors, including inadequate training of both law enforcement and journalists, Rose said.
Canham, the freelance photographer who was injured and who previously served in the British Army, described a scene in which people were throwing water bottles at law enforcement before an officer “deliberately aimed” at him.
“My main point is, please positively ID a target before you shoot,” he told Reuters.
Since Los Angeles relies heavily on transportation by car, law enforcement officials have a large responsibility to move protesters out of the way to allow traffic to flow, said Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. The priority for moving traffic could create more opportunities for conflict between police and journalists, she said.
Commentators on the right have taken to social media attacking coverage by some outlets, saying they were at times intentionally downplaying the protests. It was unclear if that criticism had any impact on the number of incidents involving journalists.
Trump has said protesters have spit on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday that ICE officers had been targeted in recent days and doxxed, the practice of publicizing private information for malicious reasons. Reuters could not confirm these incidents.
GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS
The LA protests are not the first time journalists including some from Reuters covering U.S. civil unrest have suffered injuries, whether by accident or through deliberate attacks. The number of physical assaults on members of the media spiked in 2020, the year nationwide Black Lives Matter protests erupted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, according to Press Freedom Tracker, which describes itself as a nonpartisan news website and database.
In subsequent years, assaults on journalists have moderated, the Press Freedom Tracker shows. Before the recent unrest in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, only a handful of such cases have been logged by the database this year.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Rod Nickel)
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