ZCZC
BFF-19
US-POLITICS-UNREST-RUSSIA-MEDIA
Moscow slams US ‘police impunity’ over attacks on media
MOSCOW, June 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday
demanded that Washington “take urgent measures” to stop police violence
against journalists, including one for Russian state media.
“We are outraged about the ongoing violence used by American law
enforcement against international media covering the protests in the US,
including Russian,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We demand that the US authorities take urgent measures to prevent
journalists from becoming targets of police impunity,” it added.
The ministry said a producer working for state media outlet Sputnik, Nicole
Roussell, was hurt when police fired rubber bullets and a grenade to disperse
a protest in Washington DC.
The ministry said Roussell received “many injuries, including from
firearms,” and was then stepped on by an officer, condemning this as “an
unfriendly act by the US authorities.”
The “outrageous and illegal cruelty” happened right outside the White
House, it said.
There have been multiple incidents involving police violence against
journalists — some during live broadcasts — at the protests rocking the
United States following the killing of an unarmed black man George Floyd in
police custody last Monday.
Germany earlier also urged the US to protect press freedoms after a
journalist working for German outlet DW reported being shot at by police.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1125HRS