LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Following allegations of journalists being shot by non-lethal munitions while covering recent anti-deportation protests, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Los Angeles Police Department officers from firing on working reporters or preventing them from accessing protest areas.
In a 14-page ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera noted that "the press" access to law enforcement actions during mass protests plays a critical role in preventing constitutional violations."
Vera issued a restraining order barring police from:
- "prohibiting a journalist from entering or remaining in" an area closed off due to protest activity;
- "intentionally assaulting, interfering with or obstructing" working journalists covering protests; and
- "citing detaining or arresting a journalist who is in a closed area for failure to disperse, curfew violation, or obstruction of a law enforcement officer for gathering, receiving, or processing information."
The order also bars the department "from using less-lethal munitions and other crowd control weapons against journalists who are not posing a threat of imminent harm to an officer or another person."
Citing the pending litigation, the LAPD declined to comment on the ruling.
The Los Angeles Press Club sued the LAPD, pointing to what it called a series of instances of police engaging in force against journalists during the recent protests against federal enforcement raids in the area. In one notable case caught on video, an Australian television reporter was seen speaking into a camera with no protesters near her, when a uniformed officer in the background appears to turn toward her and shoot her in the leg with a rubber bullet.
The lawsuit also includes alleged instances, including a reporter who was observing protest activity from a distance but came under fire from non-lethal munitions, and who was later shot in the head by one of the rounds. Another case involved a photojournalist who was shot with a less-than-lethal round while covering the aftermath of the No Kings Day protest on June 14.
Vera noted in his ruling that the temporary restraining order should not present any burden on the LAPD, since the agency "is already required to allow journalists access to closed areas and to limit the use of (less-lethal munitions) and chemical agents. The court's injunction does not prohibit the use of appropriate measures against protesters who engage in `violence, arson and looting, and assault towards the officers.' It merely spares journalists from becoming targets of police responses to such incidents."
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