GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) The US-based Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) has included the deliberate use of pepper spray on journalists, including a RIA Novosti correspondent, by the Minneapolis police during public demonstrations in its database and is going to report on it in detail together with the US Press Freedom Tracker, which is used to monitor press freedom violations in the US, an FPF representative told Sputnik.
On Sunday, RIA Novosti correspondent Mikhail Turgiyev was pepper-sprayed in the face by a Minneapolis police officer despite identifying himself as a reporter, while covering the protests against police brutality and racism. The VICE television crew was also hurt during the incident. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of African American man George Floyd in police custody.
"We had a small crew working on the weekend tracking the numerous assaults and arrests of journalists � I checked, and they did include this one in their ongoing database. FPF and the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker will be reporting on it in detail, along with the 60+ incidents and counting, this week," Ryan Rice, FPF operations assistant, said.
The Russian Embassy in the United States has already sent a note of protest to the US Department of State following the incident.
The assault on Turgiyev was not the only case of police violence against reporters during the protests, which have been underway since May 25. A CNN crew was detained last week during live coverage of the demonstrations. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz later apologized to the journalists.
