More than 75 cities in the United States and across the rest of the world have now seen protests sweep their streets since the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody. This senseless death has once again polarized the gulf between the expectation of the American population and the ability of the White House to enact change to end institutional racism.
The Floyd case is the latest example of a black American being killed by a white member of a police force who initially was just sacked from his job. For many, the outrage also reflects years of frustration over socio-economic inequality and segregation throughout the country. However this time media workers and journalists have come under attack from aggressive policing tactics in some demonstrations as some states deploy a heavy handed police response to control the escalating violence.
Over six nights of protests:
- At least 40 cities have imposed curfews.
- One former officer, Derek Chauvin, who was seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck, was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter and will appear in court on June 8 – but protesters say the charge isn’t harsh enough, and are demanding charges for the other officers involved.
- On Sunday morning, National Guard members had been activated in 15 states and Washington, DC. As the evening protests escalated, more states activated the Guard, including Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts, and more.
- A truck driver who barreled toward protesters filling Minneapolis’s I-35 highway Sunday has been arrested, according to police.
- President Trump was taken by Secret Service agents to an underground bunker at the White House on Friday night as protests over Floyd’s death erupted near the presidential residence.
As of Monday 1 June 2020, 4,100 people have been arrested in protests around the States, with at least several more having been killed according to the Associated Press.
The BBC’s Nick Bryant says:
“The US is witnessing the most widespread racial turbulence and civil unrest since the violent backlash to the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968”
Yet, violence hasn’t been isolated to clashes between protesters and police; the oppressed and the oppressors. There are growing examples of members of the press finding themselves targets while covering the Floyd case. There have been at least 125 press freedom violations reported over three days of protests according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The majority of these incidents appeared to be perpetrated by police, but at least two involved crowds of protestors.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of incidents have occurred in Minneapolis, the hometown of George Floyd and the heart of the civic unrest. This included the blinding of Linda Tirado, a freelance photojournalist who was hit in the eye with a nonlethal round while covering the unrest. Ms. Tirado tweeted:
“[I] am headed into surgery to see if we can save my left eye…
Stay safe folks”
In a separate incident, Minneapolis Police fired on a CBS crew with rubber bullets. In this case, there were no protesters and a video posted on social media clearly shows the team showing their press credentials with their cameras out before their sound engineer is shot in the arm.
Other instances in Minneapolis alone have seen Canadian journalist Susan Ormiston hit with a tear gas canister, an MSNBC team had a non-lethal explosive device launched at them by law enforcement, a group of journalists included a photographer and producer were pepper sprayed by police despite repeatedly pleading that they were media and CNN correspondent Omar Jiminez was arrested live on air on Friday and released a short time later.
In New York, Chris Mathias, a reporter for the HuffPost, who was wearing a press badge was arrested while peacefully covering the anti-racism protests.
In Louisville, Kentucky a reporter covering the protests in the city on Friday night was hit with what appeared to be a pepper ball while shouting “i’m getting shot” live on air. In a separate incident in Louisville, reporter Kaitlin Rust and her photojournalist were struck by pepper balls reportedly fired at them by an LMPD officer.
A particularly worrying case in Nebraska recounts multiple witnesses’ hearing ViceNews correspondent, Michael Anthony Adams’, telling a police officer “I’m press,” and flashing his press card while laying on the ground. The police officer simply replied “I don’t care,” approached him with his gun raised and then pepper sprays the floored man shortly afterwards.
In Las Vegas – the infamous ‘Sin City’ – police arrested two innocent photojournalists who were peacefully covering protests along the famous Las Vegas Strip.
The nationwide protests are throwing up countless examples of the media professionals being attacked for fulfilling their democratic duty.
This has led to David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, saying the reports of attacks on journalists were:
“Appalling and must be condemned and [the] perpetrators held accountable…They are a repudiation of fundamental rights enjoyed by all Americans, under the constitution and human rights law…Poor training combined with incessant attacks by Trump on the press as enemy no doubt contribute to an environment ready for such abuse.”.
The remarks did not hold back on the role President Donald Trump might have played in stoking anti press sentiment. President Trump, who has long thought himself champion in the fight against a crooked media, doubled down on his attack of the press on Saturday when he tweeted:
“Much more “disinformation” coming out of CNN, MSDNC,@nytimes and @washingtonpost, by far, than coming out of any foreign country, even combined. Fake News is the Enemy of the People!”
Critics will blame the President for stoking the flames of an already volatile situation. Especially considering that just 24 hours earlier, the front of CNN Center in Atlanta was the scene of violent protests that resulted in protestors causing damage to the front of the building and inside.
The state of press freedom in America seems to be in freefall. Reporters Without Borders ranked the US 48th in the world in its 2019 index, down three places as a result of growing abuse of journalists in the country.
The RSF report said:
“Never before have US journalists been subjected to so many death threats or turned so often to private security firms for protection,”
In the only other incident where press were targeted by protesters rather than the police; A crew from the conservative outlet Fox News was surrounded outside the White House early on Saturday morning and jeered at and pelted with objects until they were forced to clear the area.