Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government has protested to the Trump administration after an Australian journalist was injured by police during demonstrations in Los Angeles. Photo / Getty Images
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government has protested to the Trump administration after an Australian journalist was injured by police during demonstrations in Los Angeles. Photo / Getty Images
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his Government has formally protested to the Trump administration after a US riot police officer shot an Australian journalist with a non-lethal round during violent demonstrations in Los Angeles.
Nine’s Lauren Tomasi was at the time reporting in the city’s downtown area, where lawenforcement and the US National Guard were facing off with thousands protesting US President Donald Trump’s mass deportations.
Tomasi, microphone in hand, was giving an update to camera when an officer standing behind her raised his firearm and fired, hitting her in the leg.
Albanese said on Tuesday the footage was “horrific”.
“I spoke with Lauren this morning, she’s going okay,” Albanese told the National Press Club.
“She’s pretty resilient, I’ve got to say, but that footage was horrific.
“That was the footage of an Australian journalist doing what journalists do at their very best … which is to go into an environment that’s not comfortable, but where in LA, it is not unreasonable to think that she would not have been targeted with a rubber bullet.
“It is not unreasonable to think that she could go about the coverage – clearly as people can see in the footage – clearly identified as media.
“We are pleased Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi is safe and well and able to continue her duties after being struck by a rubber bullet while reporting on the present situation in Los Angeles,” an Opposition spokesman said.
“It is unacceptable that an Australian journalist has been shot doing their job in the United States.
“The PM needs to satisfy Australians that US authorities are taking this matter seriously and that their investigations will get to the bottom of why any Australian doing her job in LA was shot by police.”
Taking to social media, Tomasi said she was “a bit sore, but I’m okay”.
She vowed to “keep on telling the stories that need to be told”, echoing comments from Nine, which confirmed she 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 front lines of protests, underscoring the importance of their role in providing vital information,” the company said in a statement.
But colleague Karl Stefanovic on Tuesday demanded an investigation and said some questions needed to be answered.
“We don’t know what threat was so imminent it required a cop to discharge his weapon on a reporter or whether he meant to shoot her, but it sure looks like that to me,” he said in a Today Show monologue.
“The incident was maybe one of three things: a moment where an LA officer so thought his life was in danger, he needed to discharge his weapon, an incompetent warning shot, or the act of a coward.
“Either way, it needs to be properly investigated.”
Stefanovic called on Albanese to raise the matter with Trump when the two leaders have their first face-to-face on the sidelines of the G7 in Canada later this week.
“I get that it’s dangerous to cops, to what’s happened to them in the line of duty, and the position they are in is horrendous,” he said.
“But how is it okay for your police force to be firing at unarmed Australian journalists?
“If Albo is looking for a place to start with Donald Trump, this is it.”
Greens communication spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young has also called on Albanese to mention it as the first order of business.
“US authorities shooting an Australian journalist is simply shocking,” Senator Hanson-Young said in a statement.
“It is completely unacceptable and must be called out.
“The Prime Minister must seek an urgent explanation from the US administration.
“As Albanese is preparing for his first meeting with President Trump, the first thing he must tell the President is to stop shooting at our journalists.”
In his remarks on Tuesday, Albanese refused to say whether he would raise Tomasi’s shooting with the US President.
“Discussions I have with the President are discussions between myself and the President,” he said.
“That’s the way that I deal with people, diplomatically, appropriately and with respect.
“So I’ll leave the discussions with the President until they occur, rather than foreshadow them.”
Protesters have torched police vehicles and graffitied buildings in downtown Los Angeles. Photo / Getty Images
‘Pretty nasty’
Speaking after the incident, Tomasi described the situation in Los Angeles as “pretty nasty” and “volatile”.
She said police were moving through the city’s downtown area trying to clear out protesters, but there were “just thousands of people, and as we were reporting on the situation, one of those officers fired at me”.
“We are both safe,” she told Melbourne talkback station 3AW, referring to her cameraman.
However, she said she was “going to have a bit of a nasty bruise”.
“I’d say it’s kind of the size of a golf ball – a hardish rubber.
“I’ve got a bit of a circle on my calf muscle. I’m lucky it was there.”
She said it “comes part and parcel with the job sometimes”, but “it does kind of give you an idea of the sense of just how much this is deteriorating and how the situation here is out of control”.
Asked why she thought the officer shot at her, Tomasi said she did not know and put it down to the chaotic circumstances.
“I think they’re just firing at anyone who is remotely in the way,” she said.
“We certainly were not trying to get in the way … we were standing off to the side.”
US Marines deployed
Tomasi’s vow to continue covering the demonstrations came as US defence officials confirmed about 700 Marines were being deployed to defend federal personnel and property in Los Angeles.
The move will likely further fuel tensions created by Trump’s decision to deploy 2000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, the first time since 1967 that a President has done so without a request from a state governor.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who Trump often refers to as “Gavin Newscum”, has blasted the federal intervention as “not to meet an unmet need but to manufacture a crisis”.
Newsom said on Monday (local time) that he was “filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration to end the illegal takeover (of the California Military Department), which has escalated chaos and violence in LA”.
“Donald Trump’s violation of the US Constitution is an overstep of his authority,” he posted on social media.
What started as a few hundred protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Friday escalated dramatically over the weekend, with burning police vehicles scattered along streets and clashes between demonstrators and riot officers.
The Trump administration has tasked federal immigration agents with arresting at least 3000 migrants per day as part of the US President’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Daily raids across the country have sparked shock and scathing criticisms as well as warnings they could jeopardise key sectors where undocumented workers do the heavy lifting.
Southern California is among the regions most impacted by the raids.
