United States: Police Fired Rubber Bullets, Leaving Journalist Linda Tirado Permanently Blind.
Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee
Date: June 3, 2020
Clare Rewcastle-Brown, editor of Sarawak Report, fears arrest by Interpol on We are deeply saddened to hear about the severe injury photojournalist Linda Tirado suffered on May 30, 2020 while capturing the protests in Nashville Tennessee. of the Malaysian government. The journalist, known for exposing high-level corruption, shared her concerns with the UK media. On September 23, the Malaysian government issued a warrant for Clare’s arrest, pertaining to her 2018 book about the 1MDB scandal. Clare intends to travel to Spain to tend to visit her elderly father but is at risk of arrest under the Interpol’s Red Notice system.
“I was aiming my next shot, put my camera down for a second, and then my face exploded,” she said in a telephone interview after being released from the hospital. “I immediately felt blood and was screaming, ‘I’m press! I’m press!’”
Shortly after she told her story she informed via Twitter that she has been left permanently blind in the left eye.
an update: I am permanently blind in my left eye, and the docs absolutely refuse to let me go back to work for they say six weeks. I’m definitely not allowed to be near smoke or gas.
— Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) May 30, 2020
Usually if I had to stay home I’d spend a lot of time amplifying folk but reading hurts today
Demonstrations sparked across the United States after murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, in the pursuit of justice. With numerous police forces deployed to protest sites, journalists face constant threat of violence, arrest and censorship. Hundreds of journalists have reported to have faced attempts at censorship, verbal attacks, blatant threats and police violence. Hundreds of journalists have been arrested while on duty and black journalists who take the ongoing civil unrest very personally are especially targeted. CFWIJ follows the events closely with great concern.
CFWIJ is alarmed by such degree of violence against journalists taking place in the United States. We find police violence targeting journalists unacceptable and strongly condemn the perpetrators.
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.
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