Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on the British photojournalist that was shot during LA protests

A British photographer has been hit by non-lethal rounds during protests in Los Angeles.  

He has now undergone emergency surgery and is recovering at Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Devin Gray UK corresponds with us givin you there, Hi there,
Heather Gavin, tell me about what happened with us. Is
it a photographer who got shot?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, that's right, a British photographer who's been in Los
Angeles covering the riots there. It's got particularly violent overnight
in the last few hours, with of course Donald Trump,
the President of America, announcing those plans to deploy two
thousand National Guard troops to California. So Nick Stearn is
the name of the photographer. He's documenting a standoff between

(00:29):
anti immigration and customs enforcement. That's ice basically the standoff
between protesters against them and police outside what's been called
a home depot in Paramount. That was when he was
hit by what's been called a sponge bullet, a fourteen
millimeter sponge bullet which tore into his thigh and he
has now thankfully been talking about it. He's undergone emergency

(00:53):
surgery at a hospital and is fine. He said. Some
of the protesters came and helped me and ended up
carrying me, and I noticed there was blood pouring from
my leg. Believe it or not. This is the second
time that Stern, who emigrated to America in two thousand
and seven, has been involved in an incident like this.
He was covering the George Floyd protests in twenty twenty

(01:15):
when he was also hit. And I think this kind
of thing will ratchet up the pressure, of course on
the President to perhaps wind down on what Democrats and
the Californian government is described as purposefully inflammatory both speech
and action.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Now, what is the problem with this Chinese super embassy
in London.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, it's the positioning of it which has led to
some concerns. Apparently, so China is planning to build a
huge saying it's an embassy, Others are saying it's rumors
of a bug center, or it might be you know,
a sort of super embassy that they're doing, and it's
at the Royal Mint Court. And the reason that that

(01:56):
matters is because the actual site is in area where
lots and lots of data centers are and lots of
data change his hands, particularly around the City of London
and Canary Wharf. Canary Wharf of course a huge business
center City of London, Bank of England there and other
big financial companies, and that's raised concerns about the potential

(02:20):
foreign espionage risk. This was first apparently released by reports
over the weekend here in several newspapers in which it
was said that America and indeed the White House itself,
had raised concerns with the British government about the sighting
of the embassy and allowing the embassy to be built

(02:41):
right in the center of London. However, the Shadow Home
Secretary is weighing in on this, saying that you're right,
we don't think it should be built there, But a
minister for this current government is saying that the security
concerns don't need to be worried about because we've taken
care assidiously in the planning process.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Brilliant. Hey, thank you very much Gavin for talking us through.
Devin Gray, UK correspondent.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
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