The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) says it’s outraged following numerous assaults and arrests of working reporters at the hands of police as they cover protests sweeping the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd’s police-involved death in Minneapolis on May 25.
Among those that have been targeted are CBC senior correspondent Susan Ormiston, who was shot at with rubber bullets in Minneapolis on Sunday, while Radio-Canada colleague Philippe LeBlanc had his tires slashed.
#GeorgeFloyd Protests: CBC in Minneapolis#BREAKING CBC Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston has been shot at with rubber bullets, and as we catch up with her again she and our camera man have to run to get away from the tear gas being fired by police. pic.twitter.com/PVAtLUC1Ta
— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) May 31, 2020
Des manifestants arrêtés dans ce stationnement ont vu les policiers crever les pneus de tous les véhicules, pensant qu’ils étaient à des manifestants. Le nôtre était là../ pic.twitter.com/KvLHDUoOwk
— Philippe Leblanc (@phil_leblancSRC) May 31, 2020
“Some officers are purposely injuring reporters. It’s positively nightmarish; they are out of control,” said CAJ president Karyn Pugliese, in a release. “We’re not armed and we’re not dangerous, unless you believe the truth is dangerous. So, I’m begging police, please stop.”
Barbara Davidson, a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy-winning Canadian photojournalist, posted that she was pushed to the ground by LAPD after identifying herself as a journalist.
“I was hit so hard that I went flying before crashing to the ground and hitting the back of my head on a fire hydrant. Protesters picked me up, preventing me from being crushed,” tweeted Davidson.
I got pushed from behind by the @911LAPD after I told them I was a journalist. I was hit so hard that I went flying before crashing to the ground and hitting the back of my head on a fire hydrant. Protesters picked me up preventing me from being crushed by the “line” pic.twitter.com/Hbp1M6RskL
— barbaradavidson (@Photospice) May 31, 2020
The assaults and arrests have been numerous, brazen and widespread, including the arrest of CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his crew, who was handcuffed by Minnesota State Patrol unit officers as the camera rolled.
Among those seriously injured while covering the protests, was photographer Linda Tirado, who has permanently lost sight in one eye after being shot in the face by Minneapolis Police with a rubber bullet.
Tirado told the CBC’s Natasha Fatah that “unfortunately a reality of American journalism is that more and more often those of us that cover civil unrest are facing the same risk as journalists that cover war zones. This injury is just one more thing to prove that and I’m not the only journalist that’s been injured or arrested or gassed or hit by the police…it’s not to say someone won’t get hurt worse tomorrow.”
“When police feel happy to arrest national news crews during a live shot as happened Thursday night when they picked up an entire CNN crew that was on-air, we know that certainly some police departments do target journalists. We saw that a lot in St. Louis during Ferguson,” Tirado told Fatah during a CBC News Network interview. “When you do something that’s going to anger people you don’t want a record of it and tactically speaking getting journalists out of the fray and out of commission is a good way to make sure that nobody sees what you’re doing to the civilian populous.”
MUST WATCH: Photographer Linda Tirado @KillerMartinis was shot in the face by the Minneapolis police while she was covering the #GeorgeFloyd protests.
She’s now blind in her left eye.
She doesn’t have insurance and two young children.https://t.co/QuWp68RUap pic.twitter.com/ULn81MKCyw
— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) June 1, 2020
Police literally opening fire on the free press. pic.twitter.com/g8RMImZLGr
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 30, 2020
“Journalists never want to make ourselves the centre of a story, but we’re seeing oppression of media that is unheard of in a democratic society. Every citizen is relying on media to be their eyes and ears during this crisis. Let us do our job,” said Pugliese.
SHOCKING: to see members of the media also taking direct, *intentional* punches and swings from police as they cleared the streets of protesters outside the White House. #protest #Washington #WashingtonDCProtest #PictureOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/7zR154O6Jg
— Scott Thuman (@ScottThuman) June 1, 2020
Watch the shocking moment #7NEWS reporter @AmeliaBrace and our cameraman were knocked over by a police officer LIVE on air after chaos erupted in Washington DC. pic.twitter.com/R8KJLnfxPN
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 1, 2020
The arrests continued Monday night with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reporting credentialed journalists being taken into custody in Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, among other cities. The organization is now investigating more than 100 complaints over the last few days, the same number it would ordinarily investigate over the course of a year.
We already have multiple reports of journalists being arrested tonight. Here are the cases we have so far:
— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (@uspresstracker) June 2, 2020
The CAJ acknowledges that journalists within our own borders aren’t immune from police persecution.
At the organization’s annual awards ceremony, held virtually Saturday evening, the CAJ recognized three journalists who were either detained, removed or threatened with arrest by the RCMP while reporting on the Coastal GasLink pipeline standoff in northern B.C. in early February.
Photojournalists Amber Bracken and Jesse Winter, as well as reporter Jerome Turner, were honoured with the association’s highest honour, the Charles Bury Award, given under circumstances of exceptional merit to those who have made a significant contribution to Canadian journalism.
The CAJ says it’s continuing to monitor reports of Canadian journalists facing issues with police, regardless of what country they’re in. Incidents can be shared with [email protected].
CAJ President Karyn Pugliese was a guest on Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast earlier this year talking about journalist arrests at Wet’suwet’en and the erosion of press freedom in Canada. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:
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