Australia’s Prime Minister has condemned “horrific” footage of a news reporter being shot with a rubber bullet during the protests in Los Angeles.
9News correspondent Lauren Tomasi was reporting live from LA when she was shot by an officer. The incident was caught live on camera, and showed the officer turning around and aiming at the journalist before firing at her leg.
Reacting to the shocking incident, Australian PM Anthony Albanese said it was “horrific,” the Guardian reports.
He told journalists at the National Press Club: “We have already raised these issues with the US administration. We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred. And we think that the role of the media is particularly important.”
Albanese said there was “no ambiguity” that Tomasi was a journalist.. He added that he had spoken to the reporter, saying she was “pretty resilient.”
In a post on X yesterday evening, Tomasi thanked people for their messages of support, saying she was “a bit sore, but okay.”
Sharing her report from the protests, she added: “Important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told.”
The unrest in LA has now lasted four days, and started in protest against immigration raids in the city.
However, the situation was exacerbated when president Donald Trump decided to deploy National Guard troops and Marines in the city to try to deal with the unrest.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump was “deranged” and “dictatorial” for the deployments, and has said he will sue Trump’s administration.
In a post on X overnight, he wrote: “U.S. Marines serve a valuable purpose for this country — defending democracy. They are not political pawns.
“The Secretary of Defense is illegally deploying them onto American streets so Trump can have a talking point at his parade this weekend. It’s a blatant abuse of power.
“We will sue to stop this. The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling. This is a red line — and they’re crossing it. WAKE UP!”
Related: Kamala Harris predicted how Trump would use National Guard