LAPD fires 1,040 projectiles at protest; judge bans use on press

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) fired more than 1,000 projectiles in a single day during protests against immigration enforcement raids, stirring controversy and drawing federal court restrictions on their use against journalists. According to the LA Daily News, a report submitted to the state shows that on June 6, officers fired 34 rounds at a protest of about 100 people, while on June 8 they fired 1,040 rounds, including 20 tear-gas rounds, during a downtown protest of about 6,000 people. A total of 584 officers were deployed that day.

Josh Parker, deputy director of the Policing Project at New York University School of Law, said, “The use of this many projectiles in such a short time likely violated laws and standards.” Since 2021, California has restricted crowd-control weapons, banning indiscriminate firing and targeting of journalists.

On September 10, Judge Hernán D. Vera issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by the Los Angeles Press Club, prohibiting LAPD from arresting journalists or using projectiles against them during protests. The order also bars detaining journalists for failure to disperse, curfew violations, or obstruction of duties. That same day, in a separate lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Judge Vera issued a similar ruling. The decision forbids Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from dispersing, threatening, or assaulting journalists without criminal charges, and prohibits the use of crowd-control weapons to journalists. DHS was ordered to notify all officers of the directive immediately.

Judge Vera wrote that, under the guise of public safety, federal agents had threatened peaceful protesters and journalists, infringing on the public’s right to monitor the government, which violates the First Amendment. The Los Angeles Press Club said the lawsuits stemmed from last summer’s immigration raids and National Guard deployments, during which dozens of journalists were injured or unlawfully detained. On the afternoon of June 11, Sangjin Kim, a reporter for The Korea Daily, was struck in the back by a rubber bullet fired by an LAPD officer while covering a protest in Koreatown and joined the plaintiffs.

Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, criticized the ruling. “This decision departs from the true meaning of the First Amendment,” she said. She added that journalists must take precautions when covering violent riots and vowed, “We will fight to restore order until the end.”

BY HANKIL KANG [kang.hankil@koreadaily.com]