[rad-green] Police in Bolivia Pepper Spray Journalist 'On Purpose' During Live Coverage of Anti-Coup Protests

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/16/police-bolivia-pepper-spray-journalist-purpose-during-live-coverage-anti-coup
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/16/police-bolivia-pepper-spray-journalist-purpose-during-live-coverage-anti-coup>Common
Dreams          November 16, 2019Police in Bolivia Pepper Spray Journalist
'On Purpose' During Live Coverage of Anti-Coup Protests"I hate to be the
story because we are here to report on what is happening to the people in
the amazing country," said Al-Jazeera English senior correspondent Teresa
Bo. "I hope it helps denounce that such practices cannot be tolerated. Not
here not anywhere."by Jon Queally, staff writer*


[image: Teresa Bo, a senior correspondent for Al-Jazeera was sprayed
directly in the face—clearly "on purpose," she says—while covering
anti-coup demonstrators in the city of La Paz, Bolivia on Friday, November
15, 2019. (Photo: Al-Jazeera/Screenshot)]

*Teresa Bo, a senior correspondent for Al-Jazeera was sprayed directly in
the face—clearly "on purpose," she says—while covering anti-coup
demonstrators in the city of La Paz, Bolivia on Friday, November 15, 2019.
(Photo: Al-Jazeera/Screenshot)*

Becoming part of the story she was seeking to cover, international news
correspondent Teresa Bo was assaulted by Bolivian state security forces on
Friday—shot directly in the face, while on camera, with tear gas or pepper
spray.

Perpetrated while she was reporting for *Al-Jazeera English* in the city of
La Paz—where ongoing streets protests erupted this week after a coup forced
the resignation of the nation's president Evo Morales—the attack on Bo,
which occurred while she was giving an on-camera account of the protests,
was caught on film.

"I was just thrown tear gas by the police, on purpose," Bo reports in the
segment. "This is what is happening in the middle of a plaza where people
have been protesting peacefully. A police officer just threw tear gas in my
eyes. It is extremely difficult to speak. Very, very sorry."

Despite the pain, Bo continues to report the scene and explains that the
nearby protesters were clashing with security forces—who can be seen firing
tear gas canisters in the background—in an effort to reach the nearby
presidential palace.

While Bo in the immediate aftermath of the attack calls the substance tear
gas, many noted that the substance was more likely pepper spray.

The street protests in Bolivia have grown larger and more violent this
week, with massive demonstrations in cities across the country on Friday.
As *Common Dreams* reported
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/15/what-dictatorship-looks-bolivian-security-forces-open-fire-indigenous-protesters>,
security forces opened fire on a large crowd of mostly indigenous
protesters in the city of Cochabamba on Friday afternoon sending many
hundreds of people fleeing for their lives. Numerous people were reported
killed and scores more injured.

The assault on Bo, said U.S. journalist Ryan Grim of *The Intercept*,
revealed the correspondent's "impressive" grit—as she continued with her
reporting despite the volatile chemicals burning her face and eyes—but also
helped reveal "what's going on" in Bolivia.

In response to the footage, artist and progressive activist Molly
Crabapple—with a sarcastic bite at those who have argued that the overthrow
of Morales was not, in fact, a coup—tweeted
<https://twitter.com/mollycrabapple/status/1195569813235666944>: "The
police of the totally not a coup regime in Bolivia sprayed tear gas into a
female journalist's face because she was reporting on their violent
suppression of anti-coup protests."

"Thanks so much to those who understand we are only doing our job," Bo
tweeted <https://twitter.com/TeresaBo/status/1195559330151567360> after the
video of the attack spread, with many thanking her online for her brave
journalism.

"I hate to be the story because we are here to report on what is happening
to the people in the amazing country," Bo said. "I hope it helps denounce
that such practices cannot be tolerated. Not here not anywhere."

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