The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement Monday noting that several journalists have sustained injuries from law enforcement while reporting on protests of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles over the weekend.
“Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,” Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator, said in the statement.
Lauren Tomasi, an Australian journalist for 9News, was wrapping up a live broadcast on Sunday when she was shot with a rubber bullet by a police officer from close range. 9News reported that Tomasi was sore but unharmed. In a video of the incident, law enforcement appears to turn and aim at Tomasi then fire. A bystander can be heard saying: “You just shot the f**king reporter.”
The Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the incident “completely unacceptable” and implored the Australian prime minister to address the matter with President Donald Trump.
A British photojournalist, Nick Stern, was also taken into emergency surgery on Sunday after being hit in the thigh by a three-inch plastic bullet fired by police. Stern told the BBC that he was being “very deliberate and very obvious" about his role as media, wearing his press pass and a huge camera around his neck.
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Tomasi and Stern aren’t an anomaly. Other reporters injured by law enforcement over the weekend include Ryanne Mena, a crime reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News, and Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a freelance reporter, who were both shot with nonlethal rounds and teargassed by law enforcement. A New York Times reporter also visited the hospital after sustaining injuries from a nonlethal round.
