United States: Police Assault Journalist Tina Desiree Berg During Abortion Rights Protests
Location: United States, Los Angeles
Date: June 24, 2022
Police assaulted Tina Desiree Berg, host of the 34thpod podcast and journalist with Status Coup, during protests for abortion rights in Los Angeles, California. As police reacted to countrywide protests in the US against the top court’s decision to reverse the landmark Roe vs Wade judgment that had effectively secured abortion rights in 1973, women journalists on ground came in the crossfires. Video evidence shows policemen manhandling Tina during demonstrations in LA. The Coalition for Women in Journalism condemns use of excessive force by police to quash coverage on an important matter of public interest and extends support to Tina.
In a video documenting the incident, one can clearly see Tina being grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground while the police officer tightens his fists on his baton. This level of violence on women journalists that is being enacted with impunity and with no regard for a citizen and journalists rights is appalling from a country that prides itself on its democratic values.
Police manhandle reporter @TinaDesireeBerg, who gets up and continues to report after being thrown to the ground. pic.twitter.com/1zGFUgz9MW
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) June 25, 2022
LAPD crowd management policy says force is permitted only under limited circumstances, and must be “objectively reasonable.”
— Mike Bonin (@mikebonin) July 4, 2022
It will be hard to argue that throwing and knocking @JodieSweetin @TinaDesireeBerg and others to the ground was “objectively reasonable.”
Independent journalist @TinaDesireeBerg reads the names of all the journalists who have been arrested, assaulted or had their rights violated by law enforcement officers in Los Angeles, according to @uspresstracker. pic.twitter.com/gdAmATH2Pp
— L.A. TACO🌴🌮 (@LATACO) June 30, 2022
On June 24 as the Supreme Court overruled on Roe Vs Wade, protests erupted across the country. People started gathering in the streets and law enforcement was sent to scatter the protestors. The LAPD was not above using force, threats and intimidation to shut protests down. Many civil rights activists and progressive voices tweeted against the incident which even involved Full House star Jodie Sweetin.
On July 1, Tina read out a list of all the journalists who have been arrested, assaulted and had their rights revoked by law enforcement officers in LA.
The overturning of Roe Vs Wade signals a dark time in the United States as women’s right to abort is overruled. This decision indicates a shutting down of abortion clinics, reduced funding for procedures that may help a woman get an abortion and the tighetening of the window within which a woman can abort. The siren call for My Body My Choice is ringing out all across the country as progressives point out the US’s abysmal maternity leave, lack of social funding for single mothers, increasing costs of formula milk and a lack of jobs in the wake of COVID-19 leaving many homes with single incomes as mothers take time off to take care of their children. In this atmosphere, with journalists trying to speak truth to power.
The United States needs to take a good, long look at the right-wing violence it has enabled in the country over the past few years and urgently needs to find ways to address it. Safety of the press should be high on the priority list in a state that claims to be a champion of democratic values.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.
