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Utopia Talk / Politics / US police forces attacks journalists
Paramount
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:32:26
Imagine if this happened in Russia? The US and the EU would likely impose sanctions on Russia then.


Minnesota Governor Calls Alleged Assaults on Journalists ‘Chilling’

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, on Sunday responded to reports that the state’s police officers had assaulted journalists covering the unrest in a Minneapolis suburb, saying, “Apologies are not enough; it just cannot happen.”

Protests have erupted in Brooklyn Center, Minn., in the wake of the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was killed by a veteran police officer during a traffic stop. Law enforcement officers have fired tear gas or pepper spray into crowds and have made dozens of arrests.

“I think we all need to recognize the assault on media across the world and even in our country over the last few years is chilling,” Mr. Walz said in an interview with a local CBS station. “We cannot function as a democracy if they’re not there.”

On Saturday, a lawyer representing more than 20 news media organizations sent a letter to Mr. Walz and leaders of Minnesota law enforcement organizations detailing a series of alleged assaults of journalists by police officers in the past week. Journalists have been sprayed with chemical irritants, arrested, thrown to the ground and beaten by police officers while covering protests, wrote the lawyer, Leita Walker.

The letter provides details of some of the alleged incidents, including ones involving journalists working for CNN and The New York Times.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden, a freelance photographer who was covering the protests for The Times, said in an interview on Sunday that the police surrounded the car he was in on Tuesday as he tried to leave the protests. They beat on the windows with batons, then entered the car to force him out, beating his legs and striking his camera lens, he said.

“It was definitely scary — I’ve never been in a situation like that with so many police officers hitting me, hitting my equipment,” Mr. McFadden, 30, said.

Mr. McFadden, who is Black, said the police did not believe his press credentials were real until another photographer vouched for him — a situation that has happened to him and other Black journalists many times, he said.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” he said, to know that “if a situation like this happens, they’re not going to believe or care about anything I’m saying.”

Later in the week, he said, he was forced to the ground along with other journalists and photographed by the police.

A spokeswoman for The New York Times Company on Sunday confirmed that Ms. Walker’s letter represented the company’s response.

On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the police to use physical force or chemical agents against journalists. But Ms. Walker wrote that officers were still engaging in “widespread intimidation, violence and other misconduct directed at journalists.”

Mr. Walz said in a tweet on Saturday that he had “directed our law enforcement partners to make changes that will help ensure journalists do not face barriers to doing their jobs.”

“These are volatile situations and that’s not an excuse,” he said during the television interview on Sunday. “It’s an understanding that we need to continue to get better.”

http://www...rnalists-assault-protests.html
Paramount
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:35:16
” Joshua Rashaad McFadden, a freelance photographer who was covering the protests for The Times, said in an interview on Sunday that the police surrounded the car he was in on Tuesday as he tried to leave the protests. They beat on the windows with batons, then entered the car to force him out, beating his legs and striking his camera lens, he said.”


It is at times like this when people needs heavy guns to defend themselves from the government forces.
Rugian
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:36:43
Journalists can't handle guns. They get instant PTSD when they try to use them.
Sam Adams
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:38:55
Journalists march with rioters and complain about pepper spray?

Fucking retards.

Plus this is coming from cnn and nyt... probably fake or at least exaggerated.
Paramount
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:41:25
Journalists should start to carry AR-5 rifles.

Perhaps have an armed security team accompanying them as well.
Rugian
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:45:55
"Journalists should start to carry AR-5 rifles"

With or without the chainsaw bayonet?
Paramount
Member
Mon Apr 19 11:48:01
Whatever they see fit.
Habebe
Member
Mon Apr 19 15:21:04
This is America, everyone should have AR-15 rifles.
Habebe
Member
Mon Apr 19 15:21:06
This is America, everyone should have AR-15 rifles.
Nimatzo
iChihuaha
Mon Apr 19 15:29:20
Can you open carry hand grenades anywhere in the USA? RPGs?
Habebe
Member
Mon Apr 19 15:31:40
Nimatzo, Arms are not the same.as ordinances. Legally speaking In the US.
Paramount
Member
Mon Apr 19 15:53:40
I meant a AR-15.

Googled AR-5 rifle and that one looks old. Maybe it is from the civil war era.
jergul
large member
Mon Apr 19 15:54:00
The average Syrian villager is essentially better armed, yet US citizens stand with their saturday night specials, ready to defend their constitution against foreign and domestic tyrants.
Habebe
Member
Mon Apr 19 16:00:26
Paramount, I had assumed it was a typo.

Jergul,Yawn....yes we only.owm broken guns.... Germany had no qualms invading you. Japan refused to invade the US mainland.
jergul
large member
Mon Apr 19 16:24:26
You only own stupid guns of little to no military significance.

Feel empowered? You go, girl!
jergul
large member
Mon Apr 19 16:27:21
Guns in private ownership helped arm the uprisers in the War of Northern Aggression, but the 1860s is about the last time you 2nd ammendment had the function envisioned by the founding fathers.

They could not imagine the Maxim gun. Sad really.
Sam Adams
Member
Tue Apr 20 00:11:00
Lol jergul on guns.
jergul
large member
Tue Apr 20 00:33:23
lol at sammy that thinks he can shoot down planes with his guns.
Sam Adams
Member
Tue Apr 20 00:39:59
Lol jergul thinks he can jump over purple stars

Since its random word salad day now?

I bet we can get this thread published in the norwegian journal of feminist affairs if you keep making as little sense as possible.
jergul
large member
Tue Apr 20 01:17:18
Surely you mean Weather Girl Magazine.
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