Sunday, 15 June 2025
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** Protest is becoming perilous in the USA
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When photojournalist Linda Tirado was covering a Minneapolis protest in May 2020 – days after George Floyd was killed – she was shot in the face with a plastic bullet. Tirado has since spoken ([link removed]) about the traumatic brain injury she suffered on that day, which has changed her life. Rubber bullets. Plastic bullets. These are not harmless deterrents – they are weapons. And once again they’re being used against journalists in the USA. According to a database maintained by the Los Angeles Press Club, more than 30 cases ([link removed]) of “police violence” against journalists have been reported over the past week in LA alone.

It’s not just tragic when this happens to journalists. It’s symbolic. If you're a reporter and you saw the footage ([link removed]) of Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi crying in pain upon being shot in the leg, you’d think twice about how – and even if – you cover the next protest. And that hesitation? That’s one way censorship takes root.

In LA, the intimidation escalated in other ways. As law enforcement deployed bullets, bean bags and tear gas against both protesters and press, a police helicopter circled overhead and issued a warning ([link removed]) : “I have all of you on camera. I’m going to come to your house.” Was it a bluff? Maybe. But again that’s not the point. “Even if it were a joke, it was clearly designed to make the public afraid to exercise its First Amendment rights to protest and to hold government officials, including LAPD officers, accountable for their actions,” said Jonathan Markovitz ([link removed]) , staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California.

In another example of escalating authoritarianism, the narrative has been spun. While there was some vandalism and violence, accounts suggest it was small-scale (see a comparison here ([link removed]) to the 1992 unrest in LA following the brutal assault of Rodney King for reference). President Donald Trump ran with a different line ([link removed]) . He called the protests a “rebellion” against the government and said LA “would be burning” because of “paid insurrectionists” and “paid troublemakers” – language used to both turn people against the protesters and justify the heavy-handed response. Yesterday the Northern District Court of California ruled ([link removed]) “his actions were illegal”.

Some are calling LA a dress rehearsal for the midterms. I’d say the show has already started. Trump threatened ([link removed]) to forcibly put down any protests that interfered with the military parade he ordered for his birthday yesterday. Despite this millions did take to the streets across the USA, but sadly not without violence - a gunman shot two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses ([link removed]) early Saturday morning, killing one of the couples, with subsequent protests cancelled in the state, while in Texas, the state Capitol was evacuated following a “credible threat” against legislators planning to attend a protest.

A sober reminder – we’re just six months into Trump’s second term. Over two years into his first term, Jan Fox wrote for Index ([link removed]) that “many worry that the country of some 329 million people, which has prided itself on modelling the greatest democracy in the world, is not immune to unpicking some of its checks and balances”. Accuse me of Trump derangement syndrome all you want – I’d say we’re already beyond the point of just worrying.

Jemimah Steinfeld

CEO, Index on Censorship


** More from Index
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From the USA to Italy: The week in free expression ([link removed])

A round-up of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days ([link removed])

The Reckoning: A new play brings Ukrainians’ war stories to life ([link removed])

The London production shines a light on the experiences of victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ([link removed])

Open letter calls on the government of Venezuela ([link removed])

Release human rights defender Eduardo Torres ([link removed])

The female TikTokers silenced through murder ([link removed])

Women influencers around the world are killed for simply speaking online ([link removed])

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** Introducing our Am I facing a SLAPP? tool
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Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are a form of judicial harassment aimed at intimidating and ultimately silencing anyone who speaks out on issues of political or societal importance.

Our new questionnaire is a useful tool to identify potential SLAPP tactics.

MORE INFORMATION ([link removed])


** From the USA to Italy: The week in free expression
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** >> ITALY: ([link removed]) Government revealed to be using spyware on activists ([link removed])
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** >> USA: ([link removed]) National guard summoned to crack down on mass protests against ICE ([link removed])
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** >> COLOMBIA: ([link removed]) Presidential candidate shot in the head ([link removed])
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** >> BANGLADESH: ([link removed]) Student takes own life following harassment on social media ([link removed])
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** >> MEXICO: ([link removed]) Indigenous activists in Mexico violently repressed ([link removed])
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** >> MALTA: ([link removed]) Two men jailed for life for murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia ([link removed])
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** Flashback
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Game on: Trump has jumped on the ban video games bandwagon. The hysteria is increasing, and potentially unjustified ([link removed])

by Jemimah Steinfeld ([link removed])

Index on Censorship, volume 47, issue 2 ([link removed])

This week, authorities in Hong Kong banned a video game for allegedly “advocating armed revolution” and warned that players could face serious legal charges.

In light of this, we revisit a 2018 article during Donald Trump’s first administration on the complex line between safety and censorship in gaming - and why freedom of expression in virtual worlds matters too. Read the story here. ([link removed])


** Support our work
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The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as the USA, Venezuela, and Pakistan has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (National Guard members) Jim Newberry / Alamy Stock Photo; (Video game controller) Tatiana Gromova / Alamy Stock Photo

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