New Delhi: Protests in Los Angeles against the arrest of migrants escalated after Donald Trump ordered troops of California’s National Guard to be deployed in the city.
With media not only from the US but all over the globe covering the protests, a mishap struck a television journalist who was in one of the ‘hotspots’.
Lauren Tomasi, the US correspondent of Australian Nine News channel, was hit by a rubber bullet while covering the protests and riots on Sunday evening (early morning Indian time).
She was struck in the leg, while she was broadcasting live.
The video footage, which has gone viral on social media, shows a police officer taking aim at Tomasi and her camera operator before shooting. Tomasi can be heard screaming in pain, clutching her calf, as a bystander angrily shouts, “You just shot the f*****g reporter!”
Australian journalist shot by U.S. police—caught on live camera. Yet, the West DS funded propaganda dares to lecture India on press freedom, citing biased, Western-funded “indexes.” pic.twitter.com/aMX0802E4w
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) June 9, 2025
Tomasi reassured a bystander that she was good, as she and her cameraperson moved to safety.
Tomasi hasn’t issued a formal statement about the incident.
She posted an update on the ongoing protests on X. “8 pm. Dozens of police have just moved in. Another attempt to move people on. Flash bang grenades – then fireworks – going off,” she wrote.
Nine News said in a statement that both Tomasi and the camera operator are safe, and will continue their work.
“This incident serves as a stark reminder of the inherent dangers journalists can face while reporting from the frontlines of protests, underscoring the importance of their role in providing vital information,” the TV channel said on Monday, according to a report by The Guardian.
Even as California Governor Gavin Newsom criticised President Trump’s move to take federal control of California’s National Guard as “purposefully inflammatory,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared the city’s downtown area an ‘unlawful assembly.’
“You are to leave the Downtown area immediately,” LAPD said in a post on X.
‘Arrest mask-wearing protesters’, orders Trump
As the protests showed no signs of dying down, Trump ordered the immediate arrest of protestors wearing masks.
As protests entered the third day, security force personnel patrolled the streets on horseback and guarded federal facilities in riot gear.
Federal agents and police used flash-bang grenades and tear gas in an effort to disperse and drive away the crowds in a city with a sizable Latino population.
According to American media, Trump’s decision to bring in the National Guard was an ‘unprecedented action’ in decades.
