LA protests: British photographer hit by non-lethal bullet

BBC News

3 hours ago

A British news photographer has undergone emergency surgery after being hit by a non-lethal bullet while documenting the stand-off between police and protesters in the US city of Los Angeles.Nick Stern was covering protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) protests when he said a 14mm "sponge bullet" tore into his thigh."Some of the protesters came and helped me, and they ended up carrying me, and I noticed that there was blood pouring down my leg," he said.Demonstrations against immigration raids have been raging in LA for three days, with protests on Sunday erupting outside a Home Depot store in Paramount, south of LA.
Stern, who relocated to the US in 2007, told PA he was treated by a medic who urged him to go to hospital, adding that at one point he passed out from the pain.He is now recovering at Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre following emergency surgery.Stern said he typically makes himself "as visible as possible" while working in hostile situations."That way you're less likely to get hit because they know you're media," he said.Despite his injury, Stern said he was eager to return to work. "I intend, as soon as I am well enough, to get back out there," he said."This is too important and it needs documenting."An Australian journalist, Lauren Tomasi, was also struck by a rubber bullet, shot by a police officer, while filming a piece to camera in LA for 9 News, with the incident captured on video.
Since his return to the White House, US President Donald Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.Arrests made by Ice officers have increased during Trump's second term.Trump said he had deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to California to deal with the unrest over the immigration raids, saying the federal government would "step in and solve the problem".But the Democratic governor of California has appealed to Trump to pull National Guard units out of the city, accusing the White House of inflaming tensions. Stern said: "The communities in LA are very tight and very close-knit."So an outside organisation like Ice coming in and removing - whatever you want to call it, removing, kidnapping, abducting people from the community - is not going to go down well at all."Stern said he had also sustained injuries after being hit by live non-lethal rounds while covering protests in LA in 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.George Floyd - an unarmed Black man - was killed during an arrest by white police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in jail for his murder.