UN Human Rights Commissioner Urges US To Ensure Reporters Work 'Free From Attacks'

UN Human Rights Commissioner Urges US to Ensure Reporters Work 'Free From Attacks'

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is calling on the US authorities to ensure that members of the media can do their work without being attacked or subjected to repression

NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2020) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is calling on the US authorities to ensure that members of the media can do their work without being attacked or subjected to repression.

"I call on the authorities at all levels to ensure the message is clearly understood - reporters must be able to do their important work free from attacks or repression," Bachelet said in a statement on Wednesday.

Peaceful protests erupted across the United States after an African American man, George Floyd, died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. A video of the arrest posted online shows a white officer pressing on Floyd's neck for at least eight minutes while he was handcuffed and laying on his stomach.

However, many of the protests turned into riots complete with violence against police and civilians as well as acts of vandalism, arson and looting.

On Sunday, the Russian Embassy in the United States sent a protest note to the US State Department after a Minneapolis police officer pepper-sprayed RIA Novosti reporter Mikhail Turgiyev in the face. Turgiyev was attacked along with a VICE magazine crew after the protests ended and all journalists identified themselves as being members of the media without resisting the police.

On Monday, Sputnik journalist Nicole Roussell said she was fired at by police while covering protests in Washington, DC despite identifying as being a member of the media. A stinger grenade left a couple of welts on her hip and thigh.