Police Abuse

Police Target Dozens of Reporters During L.A. Anti-ICE Protests

Press freedom groups say they're alarmed by the dozens of clearly identified cases of reporters being targeted by police during the protests.

|

A woman holds a protest sign as Los Angeles police officers stand by in riot gear | Amy Katz/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
(Amy Katz/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom)

Dozens of journalists have been assaulted and injured by federal and local law enforcement in Los Angeles during protests earlier this week against Donald Trump's mass deportation program.

Press freedom groups are demanding that law enforcement stop targeting reporters covering the L.A. protests after on-air news broadcasts and cellphone video showed federal, state, and local police firing indiscriminately on crowds with pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other so-called less-than-lethal ammunition, while in other cases officers are seen firing on clearly identified members of the press.

A coalition of 28 groups including the Los Angeles Press Club, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Department Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday "to express alarm" over the incidents and urge Noem to ensure that federal law enforcement officers uphold the First Amendment. 

According to the groups, there were at least 24 documented instances of journalists being targeted by law enforcement while covering Los Angeles protests between June 6 and June 8. 

"A number of reports suggest that federal officers have indiscriminately used force or deployed munitions such as tear gas or pepper balls that caused significant injuries to journalists," the letter said. "In some cases, federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news."

Besides the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press, reporters in California are also protected by a state statute that allows them access to areas closed or blocked off by police responding to protests and prohibits any efforts to obstruct them.

Nevertheless, police shot and injured multiple journalists with "less-than-lethal" munitions, physically impeded them from staying in areas they were legally allowed to cover, and threatened them for trying to assert their rights.

Australian TV reporter Lauren Tomasi was live on the air when police shot her with a rubber bullet.

That same day, a California Highway Patrol officer shot New York Post photographer Toby Canham in the head with a rubber bullet. The New York Post reported that Canham was "standing just off the 101 Freeway at an elevated level, was filming video of the chaos between cops and rioters when a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer suddenly turned his weapon toward him and fired from about 100 yards away."

"When I got whacked, to my best recollection it was just me filming with my cameras on and then I got shot," Canham said. "Where I was hit, I was the only person overlooking the freeway. I wasn't surrounded so I was an easy target."

"It's a real shame," Canham continued. "I completely understand being in the position where you could get injured, but at the same time, there was no justification for even aiming the rifle at me and pulling the trigger, so I'm a bit pissed off about that, to be honest."

HuffPost reported that freelance news photographer Nick Stern was hospitalized after being shot in the leg with a 3-inch projectile that had to be surgically removed. Stern said he believed the device was supposed to be fired above a crowd, not at it.

"Why this device was shot at human, kind of, waist high level, I do not know," Stern told HuffPost. "The people around me at that time was [sic] doing nothing more than waving Mexican flags."

Other video shows police firing on a Univision television crew, shoving NBC LA reporters, 

The Southern California News Group's Ryanne Mena also posted photos of bruising from where she was struck by police pepper balls.

CNN's Jason Carroll was also detained by police while reporting in Los Angeles.

"Based on these incidents, it is apparent that LAPD and LASD officers are failing to meet their obligation to respect journalists' rights, protected by both the First Amendment and California statute, to gather and report news at protests—including after they're broken up by police," a coalition of press freedom groups wrote this week in a separate letter to the Los Angeles chief of police and Los Angeles County sheriff.

The repression of media during protests is one of the hallmarks of lawless authoritarianism. It cuts off the flow of nongovernment information during unrest and chills the right of everyone to hold the government accountable. It should be condemned by leaders and investigated by agencies, and the individual officers should be held accountable.