Police targeting journalists
June 6th, 2020
Here’s the Complaint filed by ACLU in federal court:
Why? Attacks on journalists are a pattern of behavior. From the Complaint, and evident in the media coverage of police attacks, arrests live on camera, what more proof is needed:
The past week has been marked by an extraordinary escalation of unlawful force deliberately targeting reporters…
The press is under assault in our City.
Over the past week, the Minneapolis Police and the Minnesota State Patrol have tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, shot in the face with rubber bullets, arrested without cause, and threatened journalists at gunpoint, all after these journalists identified themselves and were otherwise clearly engaged in their reporting duties. These are not isolated incidents.
This pattern and practice of conduct by law enforcement tramples on the Constitution. It violates the sacrosanct right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press that form the linchpin of a free society. It constitutes a pattern of unreasonable force and unlawful seizures under the Fourth Amendment. And it deprives liberty without a modicum of due process protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Plaintiff brings this action and asks the Court to restrain Defendants from further violence and unconstitutional conduct.
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