Cops had to know ‘we were press’

IGNATIUS Park College may be an all-boys school, but it doesn’t stop them working hard to educate its students on how to be global citizens and contribute to the social justice debate.

On the last day of the school term, more than 200 students wore pink laces to show their support for girls who may not have equal opportunity to be educated in a school environment.

According to a UNESCO study from 2019, there were 16 million girls across the globe who may never set foot in a classroom.

It’s why the Ignatius Park College student body backed The Best Foot Forward project, a campaign that raises awareness to the inequality in education for young girls.

The organisation uses pink laces to push the message that no education today, means no opportunities for tomorrow.

“The boys of the college have embraced the challenge and there are currently over 200 sets of pink laces being worn by students and teachers,” Ignatius Park College principal Shaun Clarke said.

“It is rewarding to see the students contributing to a global issue … and learning about the issues of inequality.”

FORMER Townsville reporter Amelia Brace has described how police in Washington kept attacking her and cameraman Tim Myers when they knew they were working media.

“I can’t say if we were targeted,” Brace ( pictured) said to a House committee hearing into the June 1 incident.

“It was clear we were working press, and even after my cameraman Tim Myers was assaulted, and it was acknowledged very clearly we were press, I was then hit across the back with a truncheon as I was trying to move away.”

Brace was one of four witnesses testifying at the committee hearing, and detailed the violence that preceded a controversial “photo opp” for US President Donald Trump outside the White House.

She said she was “shocked” at a number of assaults by police on working media during civil unrest.

“As a reporter, I have no interest in becoming the story, but over recent weeks, many of us have been left with no choice,” Brace said. “I’ve been shocked to see how many journalists have been attacked, beaten and detained just for doing their jobs.

“Covering protests does carry unavoidable risk, but the media’s role is essential. We don’t just have a right to be there, we have an obligation.

“As Australian journalists we are the eyes and the ears of our people, in this case witnessing civil unrest in the capital of our most powerful and closest allies.”