A press freedom group is suing the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the city itself over what the organization says is mistreatment of journalists covering the civil unrest there in response to President Trump’s immigration initiatives.
As part of a lawsuit filed Monday, the Los Angeles Press Club argued police officers trying to contain demonstrations across the city have “responded with excessive force against both the press and public.”
“Journalists covering the protests have been shot with ‘less-lethal munitions,’ charged by horses, and forcibly prevented from filming,” the group argued in a statement on the lawsuit after it was filed.
“Our democracy depends on an informed public. When press rights are threatened, it’s the public that suffers,” said Carol Sobel, lead counsel for the LA Press Club.
Cameras have caught tense interactions among press, protesters and police in recent days, including the brief handcuffing of a CNN reporter and video showing an Australian news reporter apparently being struck by a rubber bullet.
The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The suit comes just days after the First Amendment Coalition, Freedom of the Press Foundation and National Press Club wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, expressing “alarm that federal officers may have violated the First Amendment rights of journalists covering recent protests and unrest,” in the area.
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