Channel 7 cameraman struck by US police

An Australian cameraman was struck by American police on live television while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on Monday, local media reported.

The incident occurred on air as Channel 7 reporter Amelia Brace was covering protests near the White House during the network's Sunrise morning program.

Channel 7 video of the incident showed police rushing protesters before a police officer struck camerman Tim Meyers as Brace shouted "Media!"

After a brief loss of contact, Brace and Meyers were able to continue reporting.

"They are being indiscriminate at the moment, they chased us down that street," Brace said of the police. "They do not care who they are targeting at the moment."

It's not clear if the two journalists were injured.

Protesters gathered over the death of George Floyd at a time when the country is already buckling under the coronavirus outbreak and the Depression-level unemployment it has caused.

Floyd died last week after he was pinned to the pavement by a police officer who put his knee on the handcuffed black man's neck until he stopped breathing. His death set off protests that spread from Minneapolis across America.

The country has been beset by angry demonstrations for the past week in some of the most widespread racial unrest in the U.S. since the 1960s. Spurred largely by Floyd's death, protesters have taken to the streets to decry the killings of black people by police.