India, June 9 -- A British news photographer has undergone emergency surgery after being hit by non-lethal rounds during protests in Los Angeles.

Nick Stern was documenting a stand-off between anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) protesters and police outside a Home Depot in Paramount, a city in LA county and a location known as a hiring spot for day labourers, when a 14mm "sponge bullet" tore into his thigh.

He told the PA news agency: "My initial concern was, were they firing live rounds? "Some of the protesters came and helped me, and they ended up carrying me, and I noticed that there was blood pouring down my leg." He was treated by a medic who urged him to go to hospital.

At one point, Mr Stern says he passed out from t...