An Australian reporter has been shot with a rubber bullet while reporting on protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, with the incident caught live on camera.
US authorities, including the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and national guard troops, clashed with crowds of demonstrators on Sunday. They were protesting against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) issued a statement declaring that “all journalists should be able to do their work safely”.
“Australia supports media freedom and the protection of journalists,” the statement said.
The Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was reporting to camera when shot. She said that “after hours of standing off, this situation has now rapidly deteriorated, the LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of LA”.
Seconds later, Tomasi was shot with a rubber bullet. Footage showed an officer taking aim in the direction of Tomasi and her camera operator and then firing.
In the footage, Tomasi cries out and grabs her calf. A bystander can be heard telling the officer: “You just fucking shot the reporter!”
In response to bystanders asking if she was OK, Tomasi responded: “I’m good.”
The Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young urged the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to seek “an urgent explanation” from the US administration. Albanese may talk with Trump next week at the G7 conference in Canada although a meeting has not yet been confirmed.
Hanson-Young said authorities shooting an Australian journalist was “simply shocking” and “completely unacceptable”.
“The first thing he [Albanese] must tell the president is to stop shooting at our journalists,” the Greens senator said. “Freedom of the press is a fundamental pillar of a strong, functioning democracy.”
Speaking to the ABC, the Nationals senator Matt Canavan said “it looks like there was a targeting there” but added he was “loathe to jump to conclusions though when you just see part of the footage”.
Canavan said “a detailed investigation of all these matters” should take place.
The Greens senator Nick McKim agreed, saying the Australian government needed to “make its displeasure at what happened abundantly clear … And it needs to happen now. We don’t need to wait”.
“It should be done it at the highest possible level,” McKim told the ABC.
“If the prime minister is not going to pick up the phone, the Minister for Foreign Affairs absolutely should.”
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On Saturday, a British news photographer based in Los Angeles was wounded during a standoff between police and anti-Ice protesters.
Nick Stern told the Guardian he believed he was likely hit by a non-lethal round that deputies were using along with flash-bang stun grenades for crowd control.
According to Nine, the protest where Tomasi was shot was focused on “the Metropolitan Detention Centre in downtown Los Angeles, where people were detained after earlier immigration raids”.
“Lauren Tomasi was struck by a rubber bullet,” Nine said in a statement.
“Lauren and her camera operator are safe and will continue their essential work covering these events.
“This incident serves as a stark reminder of the inherent dangers journalists can face while reporting from the frontlines of protests, underscoring the importance of their role in providing vital information.”
Geolocation from the video put Tomasi at 257 E Temple Street, Los Angeles, the same block where the LA field office for immigration and customs enforcement (Ice), the focus of the protests, is located.
The LAPD had issued an “unlawful assembly” notice for the area and earlier advised “media partners, please keep a safe distance from active operations”.
The LAPD was contacted for comment.
