Report: Police used excessive force against journalists in 2020

Police clear the area around Lafayette Park and the White House in Washington, as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd. [AP Photo]

Two U.S. Park Police officers used excessive force against two journalists during a crackdown on racial justice protesters outside the White House almost three years ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior Inspector General said in a report publicly released Wednesday.

The two journalists - known in the report not by name but as the cinematographer and the reporter - were in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., June 1, 2020, to cover protests over the police killing of George Floyd for an Australian television network.