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{
"title": "Fox News correspondent, crew chased from park while documenting DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-correspondent-crew-chased-from-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-24T20:31:45.546415Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:44:06.808393Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:44:06.681501Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s0yp4\">Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert and his new crew were chased out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park by a mob of people on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"nwtp0\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ss1kn\">Vittert told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived with photojournalist Christian Galdabini and two Fox security officers to report on the protests near the White House at about 8:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"pafmt\">The protest was “entirely peaceful” during the early evening, Vittert said, but grew more restless later into the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"lrcvc\">Around midnight, one protester wearing a black and white bandana kept approaching them, questioning which outlet they worked for and why they were there.</p><p data-block-key=\"mcfne\">“Typically when that happens in the field it’s not really a good sign,” Vittert said. “My answer typically is to demure and move on and not really address anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6a4cn\">An hour later, Vittert said he noticed that the protester had stopped recording them and was looking at his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"ta4zd\">As photojournalist Galdabini <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/fox-news-dc-videographer-recounts-being-attacked-by-protestors\">told Fox</a>, “Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n4b93\">Vittert told the Tracker that soon after, “A crowd of about 50 people surrounded us, a number of them stopped throwing things at the Secret Service [officers] and started beating on us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"srot3\">In <a href=\"https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protest-white-house-fox-news-leland-vittert/\">footage</a> captured by The Daily Caller, Vittert, Galdabini and their security officers can be seen making their way out of the park while numerous voices call out curses and shout “Fuck Fox News!”</p><p data-block-key=\"qly93\">Vittert told the Tracker that while they attempted to leave, individuals threw objects at them, grabbed their microphone and used it as a club against them. One of the security officers was punched in the face, and Vittert received more than one blow to his stomach.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfrok\">A Fox camera was also broken when one of the individuals attempted to grab it. Galdabini’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-crew-chased-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/\">assault and damage to the news equipment is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"77mwc\">“What was different here was we became the prey,” Vittert said. “We weren’t reporting on an event, the attack on us was the event. And that was a very big difference.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kvyxu\">The crew eventually found refuge near a police cruiser outside the park, Vittert said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ps5ig\">“We were all pretty roughed up, to the point of — you woke up the next morning pretty damn sore,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"y78mu\">Vittert said that another news crew reporting in the park that night later found Fox’s microphone and returned it.</p><p data-block-key=\"dwf6c\">Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott denounced the assault in a statement published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"enlq6\">“We strongly condemn these actions against FOX News Media reporting teams as well as all other reporters from any media outlets who are simply trying to do their jobs and report the news during an extraordinary time in our country’s history,” Scott said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tsqie\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"Assault"
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"Leland Vittert (Fox News)"
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{
"title": "Dallas Morning News reporters targeted by law enforcement with tear gas",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-reporters-targeted-by-law-enforcement-with-tear-gas/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T19:22:47.358326Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:46:32.554061Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:46:32.464124Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"itnge\">Two Dallas Morning News reporters said a Texas state trooper rolled a can of tear gas at them while they covered protests in downtown Dallas on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wxrm\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"xf3t7\">On May 30th, Dallas Morning News reporters Jesus Jiménez and Corbett Smith were documenting police efforts to clear out protesters from outside of their newspaper’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvbze\">Smith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident happened just after 8 p.m., when a state trooper, who was standing 20 to 25 yards away, made eye contact with Smith as the pair stood on South Harwood Street near the The Dallas Morning News headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"qymjf\">“There's a state trooper who turns and looks right at me,” Smith said, “and pulled the pin on the gas.” The trooper <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corbettsmithDMN/status/1266899262719303681\">rolled the canister</a> toward Jiménez and Smith, but the canister “kind of skittered off to the west underneath a car that was 10 feet away.” The pair was able to quickly retreat, avoiding being enveloped by the gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywrny\">There was no one standing between the journalists and the trooper at the time he rolled the canister at them, Smith said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ezksa\">Both Jiménez and Smith said they were clearly identifiable as members of the media. “I feel like they could easily distinguish us as press,” Jiménez said. “We had our press passes on, our notebooks out and we were standing right in front of our office.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wxfgt\">Smith identified the officer as a state trooper, part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, based on the shield he was carrying. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-reporters-targeted-by-state-trooper-with-tear-gas/\">Smith’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a8ce\">In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson from the Texas DPS wrote in an email that the department “does not have a record of any of our personnel deploying a gas canister in the area of the Dallas Morning News offices in Dallas on the evening of May 30, 2020.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nfd3n\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"u77d0\"><i>This article was updated to reflect comment from the Texas Department of Public Safety.</i></p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Swiss videographer shot at with crowd-control munitions amid Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/swiss-videographer-shot-at-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-14T15:28:38.147879Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:08:33.947994Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:08:33.865222Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t5g85\">While covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, three Swiss journalists were shot at with crowd-control munitions shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"q6cdl\">Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Gov. Tim Walz’s order. The curfew followed protests in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"qgte0\">Shortly after 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis, officers fired foam rounds at the journalists after they held up their press passes and yelled that they were members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"q885h\">Massimiliano Herber, the Washington-based television correspondent for RSI (Radiotelevisione svizzera), an Italian-language channel of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, told the Tracker in an interview that he and videographer Jean-Pascal Azaïs had been reporting on protests downtown with Gaspard Kühn, a Washington-based correspondent for RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the public broadcaster’s French-language channel. Neither Azaïs nor Kühn could be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1wy2\">Police had begun to throw tear gas and shoot foam rounds at protesters, according to Herber. Some of the tear gas wafted toward the Swiss journalists, stinging their eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"l7jfd\">As the journalists attempted to reach their car, he said, they found police lines on either end of the block, preventing them from moving.</p><p data-block-key=\"fg5ji\">Standing in the middle of the road, the journalists held up their press passes issued by the U.S. Congress and shouted, “Media! Media! Press!” toward the police and asked if they could pass by to reach their car. Azaïs was holding a small video camera. They had taken a couple steps forward, Herber said, when the officers told them to “back up”. The officers then began to shoot at the journalists, firing off four or five foam rounds, all of which missed the journalists, Herber said.</p><p data-block-key=\"o12d9\">They were able to flee to the safety of a nearby parking lot, but when they tried to move, the officers again opened fire, firing two to three foam rounds, Herber said. Eventually, with the help of a local resident, they found a safe route back to their car.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kd3k\">The officers in the area were from the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, Herber said, but he was not sure who fired the rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"hveq2\">The broadcaster filed a complaint about the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland on June 1, Herber said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rryg\">Requests for comment on these incidents sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"hcpy1\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Reuters producer struck with multiple projectiles during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reuters-producer-struck-with-multiple-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:40:25.725658Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:59:32.405686Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:59:32.318630Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9u0l4\">Reuters producer Julio-César Chávez was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pkooy\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"h9k38\">Shortly after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, police fired rubber bullets that hit Chávez in his neck and left arm, according to an account of the event published by <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protest-update/reuters-cameraman-hit-by-rubber-bullets-as-police-disperse-protesters-idUSKBN237050\">Reuters</a> and a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JulioCesrChavez/status/1266980841441419265\">tweet</a> from Chávez.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tonight I was shot in the arm and the back of my neck with rubber bullets in the middle of covering the Minneapolis protests. My security advisor was shot in the face; his gas mask protected him.<br><br>Here’s what happened: <a href=\"https://t.co/fwwVLAxFIY\">https://t.co/fwwVLAxFIY</a><br><br>Here’s what it looks like: <a href=\"https://t.co/UwSBqpHv5N\">pic.twitter.com/UwSBqpHv5N</a></p>— Julio-César Chávez (@JulioCesrChavez) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JulioCesrChavez/status/1266980841441419265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"huw5v\">“A police officer that I’m filming turns around points his rubber-bullet rifle straight at me,” Chávez told Reuters. According to the Reuters report, minutes later Chávez and Reuters security advisor Rodney Seward were both struck with crowd-control munitions as they took shelter at a nearby gas station.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ptdn\">Seward yelled that he had been hit in the face by a rubber bullet, and was later treated by a medic for a deep gash under his left eye, according to Reuters.</p><p data-block-key=\"bebs7\">Chávez was holding cameras and had a press pass around his neck; Seward was wearing a bulletproof vest labeled “press,” according to their employer.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxpsx\">“We strongly object to police firing rubber bullets at our crew in Minneapolis and are addressing the situation with the authorities,” a Reuters spokesperson told the wire service. “It was clear that both our reporter and security advisor were members of the press and not a threat to public order. Journalists must be allowed to report the news without fear of harassment or harm.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q4aqr\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qgd3m\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Investigative reporter targeted with pepper spray, tear gar amid Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/investigative-reporter-targeted-with-pepper-spray-tear-gar-amid-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:54:35.238501Z",
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"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ws4g\">Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"w75ev\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ltvn\">Half an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, Minnesota State Patrol Officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including KSTP-TV investigative television reporter Ryan Raiche, according to <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2882143978738897\">social media</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanraiche/status/1266919035033264130\">posts</a> by the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kjn8\">“Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot,” Raiche wrote on Twitter. “We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot. We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast. <a href=\"https://t.co/Wl3Fzzlsnw\">pic.twitter.com/Wl3Fzzlsnw</a></p>— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanraiche/status/1266919035033264130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sdbbv\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"frtdh\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ryan Raiche (KSTP-TV)"
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{
"title": "Live 5 News producer in vehicle attacked during Charleston protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/live-5-news-producer-in-vehicle-attacked-during-charleston-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2022-03-11T17:03:59.607444Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:26:08.229237Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:26:08.142826Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charleston",
"longitude": -79.93092,
"latitude": 32.77657,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pmrlk\">A group of people hit and threw a rock into a stopped Live 5 News car carrying three journalists covering a demonstration against police violence in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebsh6\">The protest was held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"7pup0\">The car carrying producer Allyson Cook and reporters <a href=\"/all-incidents/live-5-news-reporter-in-vehicle-attacked-during-charleston-protests/\">Rob Way</a> and <a href=\"/all-incidents/two-live-5-news-news-vehicles-damaged-one-night-charleston/\">Abbey O’Brien</a> was driving through a crowd to get to safety because downtown Charleston was becoming violent, O’Brien said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p95k\">“We were in a Live 5 News car obviously designated as our station,” O’Brien told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “People started banging on our windows and flicking us off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d1lkd\">Demonstrations had started peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"91dh6\">“Once it got dark, it turned into rioting; that was definitely not as many people,” O’Brien said. “I truly believe that it was just two different groups of people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e2sl\">While they were stopped at an intersection, members of the crowd began to bang on the windows of the car and then a rock was thrown through the back window. No one was injured.</p><p data-block-key=\"11fgb\">At the time, the journalists weren’t sure whether it was a rock, tear-gas canister or an explosive, so once they got to safety, they all exited the car.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kcu0\">“We all jumped out and realized it was just a brick,” O’Brien said. “So, no one was hurt, which is good, but it was really scary.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now that we’re safe... here’s a look at what just happened to our <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Live5News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Live5News</a> car. Someone threw this large rock while we were driving down King St. Very scary <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/chsnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chsnews</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/scnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#scnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/0r1Fq77nZ7\">pic.twitter.com/0r1Fq77nZ7</a></p>— Abbey O'Brien (@abbeyobrien) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/abbeyobrien/status/1266934403776864257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pmrlk\">They continued to report throughout the night and made sure they didn’t leave anything valuable in the car. O’Brien said that, in a separate incident, people smashed out the front, driver’s side window of a different, unoccupied Live 5 truck. Both the car and the truck were out of commission for a few days, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0c29\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Allyson Cook (WCSC-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Canadian journalist struck with munitions while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/canadian-journalist-struck-with-munitions-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T17:01:21.054911Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:06:00.369669Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:06:00.279389Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lm5ox\">Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"0vxwp\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"19zy3\">On May 30, police fired a rubber bullet that hit Canadian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Susan Ormiston in her shoulder, and fired an unidentified canister that hit her in the buttocks, she said <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NatashaFatah/status/1266919824556535808\">in a report</a> for the broadcaster.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> Protests: CBC in Minneapolis<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BREAKING</a> The curfew is in effect but protesters are still out so police started tear gas and rubber bullets at them. <br><br>People have been hit including our colleague, CBC Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston. <a href=\"https://t.co/N8XcXaAyHH\">pic.twitter.com/N8XcXaAyHH</a></p>— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NatashaFatah/status/1266919824556535808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"490pr\">“For the last 10 minutes we have seen a very robust police response,” Ormiston said in her report. “Police came out, they pushed the crowd back, they were firing canister after canister of tear gas and we were right in the middle of it. They were firing rubber bullets: a bullet hit me in the shoulder.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1zg63\">Ormiston said that police opened fire on her and her CBC team while they were in a parking lot filming officers’ actions.</p><p data-block-key=\"836sp\">“The thing is we were in that parking lot all by ourselves with two other people behind us, everybody else was cleared out and they fired at us,” Ormiston said. “We clearly had our television camera visible, so they were definitely taking an aggressive action to move everybody out including us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qfjjx\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"29wwq\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Susan Ormiston (Canadian Broadcasting Company)"
],
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},
{
"title": "HuffPost editor struck in the leg with projectile during Capitol protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/huffpost-editor-struck-in-the-leg-with-projectile-during-capitol-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T17:52:27.181740Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:27.424401Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:27.343842Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jpaew\">HuffPost editor Philip Lewis was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wicv5\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for 7 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"syvzu\">Lewis told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — he was covering the protests near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute when vandals began breaking out the windows of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"pzvhq\">Police began releasing tear gas and setting off flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd, Lewis said, and so he decided it was time to leave the area. As he tried to leave, he said he was struck by a small object in the left leg at around 11:35 p.m. “It was definitely a stinging pain,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zlcsh\">Lewis did not recover the projectile after it hit him, but said he believed it to be a rubber bullet, due to the size of the mark it left and the fact that he had seen one on the ground earlier in the day. The Tracker could not confirm the type of projectile he was hit with.</p><p data-block-key=\"ch8jy\">Lewis tweeted about the incident a few minutes later:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got shot in the leg with rubber bullets. Not great!</p>— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1266938209902252043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qse6p\">Lewis, who was wearing press credentials at the time, did not believe he was the intended target. The projectile left behind a slight red bruise several days later, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"y3wek\">Kristen Metzger, a D.C. police spokeswoman, wrote in an email to the Tracker that the Metropolitan Police Department has not “deployed rubber bullets during the demonstrations.” In a follow-up email, she confirmed that the department “may deploy … when necessary,” pepper spray, sting ball grenades that expel tiny rubber balls at high velocity and tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"nmtnd\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Philip Lewis (HuffPost)"
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{
"title": "Detroit police officer aims weapon at Free Press journalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-police-officer-aims-weapon-at-free-press-journalist/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-29T16:56:45.165120Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:49:41.841202Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:49:41.748635Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kcstb\">Two journalists who’d been reporting for the Detroit Free Press had weapons brandished at them by law enforcement officials while covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020, they told the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bp1y\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"qxeq7\">Detroit Free Press reporter Branden Hunter, who’s no longer with the newspaper, told CPJ in an interview that he’d been reporting on May 30 with a group of Free Press reporters. At about 11:30 p.m., as he was standing near a handful of his colleagues and trying to see through a haze of tear gas, a police officer approached him with a rubber bullet gun and told him to leave, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JustCallmeBHunt/status/1266955368493711361\">tweet</a> from Hunter’s twitter account and his interview with CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"eksq4\">“I put my press pass up and immediately stopped what I was doing,” Hunter told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cyxb\">Hunter, who is Black, said he felt the officer was “100 percent” going after him because of his race.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7w4z\">In a Facebook Live hosted by the International Center for Journalists on June 5, Hunter <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/icfjorg/videos/858359181234324/?v=858359181234324\">said</a> he’d been wearing streetwear that evening, including a Black Panther jacket, and that, aside from his press badge, he “fit the description of the protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oa02g\">According to both Hunter and a video of the incident on his Twitter account that was viewed by CPJ, a tear gas canister rolled toward the journalists from another direction immediately after the officer had stepped away from him.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7prb\">M.L. Elrick, who’d also been reporting that evening with a group of Free Press journalists, also had an officer aim a crowd-control weapon at him later that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/weapons-aimed-free-press-journalists-covering-detroit-protests/\">documented his assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"th8gc\">The Free Press did not respond to an email requesting comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"eiw8n\">When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"35mpr\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Branden Hunter (Detroit Free Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter for Finnish outlet struck in face with projectile during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-finnish-outlet-struck-in-face-with-projectile-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T19:49:09.307830Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:48:32.405145Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:48:32.317354Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c3jhw\">Mikko Marttinen, a reporter for Finnish outlet Ilta-Sanomat, was struck in the face with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j6t01\">Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. On the fourth night of protests, the National Guard was called in to disperse crowds and enforce the 8 p.m. curfew in place that evening.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hgq7\">At approximately 11:30 p.m., Minneapolis Police officers near the department’s Fifth Precinct began indiscriminately firing projectiles and tear gas to disperse the crowd, Marttinen told the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hdz0p\">One of the rubber bullets ricocheted off the ground and struck him in the face. Marttinen said his glasses, which were broken by the projectiles, saved his eye.</p><p data-block-key=\"wghha\">“I only got a few scratches on my eyelid and around my eye,” Marttinen said. “So I was pretty OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zlut3\">Marttinen eventually met up with other foreign correspondents in an alley, including an Australian news team sheltering with its security team.</p><p data-block-key=\"r5kwc\">The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to multiple phone and emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nw4n\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Social media journalist hit with projectile while covering Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-hit-with-projectile-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-19T17:22:29.383092Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T19:37:55.791267Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T19:37:55.732073Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8qomk\">Brad Svenson, a Minnesota-based journalist who runs the social media outlet Watchdog Citizen News, said he was hit with a crowd-control round fired by a Minnesota State Patrol trooper while covering a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqh6m\">Months of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody. Svenson, who videos and live-streams protests, told the Tracker he was covering a protest near the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7iuo\">He said he was in a parking lot near an apartment complex and saw other journalists who had apparently been hit by crowd-control munitions. As a line of law enforcement officers was coming up the street, Svenson said he and another member of the press went over to see if the other journalists were OK.</p><p data-block-key=\"ajfo5\">Svenson said he was holding up his press badge, a card he made that had his photograph and the word “PRESS” in large letters, to the officers as they advanced. He said he saw that the officers were holding weapons, so he shouted out “press” to identify himself and turned around and started walking away.</p><p data-block-key=\"9yzrb\">As he was walking, he said, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shot him with a bean-bag round, a crowd-control projectile consisting of a fabric bag filled with lead shot. The round hit him in the back just below his left armpit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzu99\">Svenson said the impact was painful and it hurt to breathe after he was hit, but he didn’t think it broke a rib. He said he was able to continue to cover protests for the next several weeks. Svenson said he has been in treatment for PTSD after covering protests in 2020, and believes that being shot with the munition was “the catalyst.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8eipn\">Svenson believes he was targeted for being a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"l82yd\">MSP didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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"shot / shot at"
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"Assault"
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"Brad Svenson (Watchdog Citizen News)"
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{
"title": "NBC News producer hit with multiple projectiles during Louisville protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-news-producer-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-during-louisville-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-04T16:14:22.825871Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:57.503266Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:57.416495Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nlp04\">NBC News producer Kailani Koenig and correspondent Cal Perry were shot at with pepper balls while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cywgc\">Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"kue0e\">Perry told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news team and their security guard were reporting from a bus stop with plexiglass barriers in downtown Louisville shortly after 8:30 p.m. when police began to disperse the crowd. Both news crew members were wearing press passes, Perry said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xaar2\">The news team took off running, Perry said, and when they made it around the corner and out of the way of the police advance, Koenig turned around and Perry noticed that her bag had been hit with pepper balls anywhere from six to 12 times.</p><p data-block-key=\"hk41l\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CalNBC/status/1267108873216933893\">tweet</a> posted the following day, Koenig’s backpack can be seen with numerous residue marks where it was struck by the less-lethal pepper ball rounds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Producer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kailanikm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kailanikm</a> backpack marked by the many spots pepper pellets hit as we were running away last night in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Louisville</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MSNBC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MSNBC</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ynQBuDjoQf\">pic.twitter.com/ynQBuDjoQf</a></p>— Cal Perry (@CalNBC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CalNBC/status/1267108873216933893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4gszl\">Perry said that while Koenig’s bag had prevented her from being hit by any of the rounds, the security officer with them was struck in the center of his back with a rubber bullet, causing a large welt.</p><p data-block-key=\"6f2jp\">“There was no question: they were moving us along by firing the little pepper rounds and rubber bullets at us,” Perry said. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-and-rubber-bullets-news-crew-move-them-during-louisville-protests/\">Perry’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"p0ar8\">The Louisville Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9wni5\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Kentucky",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Omaha news car spray painted with profanity during late May protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-news-car-spray-painted-with-profanity-during-late-may-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-12T13:10:27.899511Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:25:30.234354Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:25:30.150850Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qlfj9\">A KMTV 3 News Now car was found vandalized in the early morning hours of May 30, 2020, while the reporter was covering protests against police violence in Omaha, Nebraska.</p><p data-block-key=\"4iwn3\">Reporters from KMTV 3 News Now, a CBS-affiliate station, were documenting protests that began across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"we5wm\">According to the <a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/72nd-and-dodge-shut-down-as-tear-gas-protesters-fill-streets-omaha-police-make-multiple/article_85901422-09dc-500c-b016-7d6be516e418.html#1\">Omaha World-Herald</a>, thousands of protesters gathered at 72nd and Dodge, one of Omaha’s busiest intersections on May 29th. Deputy Chief Ken Kanger said that there was generally no violence and harm, according to the World-Herald, but as of 10:30 p.m. Lt. Sherie Thomas said the demonstration was no longer peaceful.</p><p data-block-key=\"28kn7\">KMTV-TV 3 News Now News Director Geoffrey Roth told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news vehicle was parked about 3 blocks away from the protests as a safety precaution. Roth said a reporter returned to the car shortly after midnight on the 30th to find it spray painted with profanity and what appeared to be gang symbols, but there was no other damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"fy3d7\">“The vandalizing of our news vehicle was only a small part of what happened to our reporters in the field that evening,” he said. “Two were shoved to the ground by police officers while covering the protest that night and another was threatened with arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4y9tl\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Nebraska",
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{
"title": "Documentary filmmaker pepper-sprayed by NYPD while covering Brooklyn protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentary-filmmaker-pepper-sprayed-by-nypd-while-covering-brooklyn-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-07T17:40:27.646609Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:25:13.224793Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:25:13.143989Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cp3n6\">Documentary filmmaker Christopher Frierson was pepper-sprayed in the face by police while he filmed a protest in the Brooklyn borough of New York on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"g8qc3\">The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkbii\">Frierson, whose work includes the award-winning documentary “The King” and the forthcoming “Don’t Try to Understand,” said in<a href=\"https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/5/chris_frierson_filmmaker_pepper_sprayed\"> an interview with Democracy Now</a> that the May 30 protest in Brooklyn had been peaceful until a woman threw a water bottle toward police from the group he was filming. He said that police began running toward the group spraying liquid at people, including him.</p><p data-block-key=\"wyn08\">The Tracker couldn’t reach Frierson for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"elk11\"><a href=\"https://youtu.be/u8Xvt9L48A4?t=45\">Video Frierson recorded</a> shows an officer in a helmet and face shield approaching and directing a stream of liquid in the direction of the camera from several feet away. The camera points toward the ground and Frierson can be heard groaning. He told Democracy Now that it was the second most painful experience in his life.</p><p data-block-key=\"kyx03\">“I think that it’s more than the pain,” he said in the interview. “It’s just not knowing what’s happening all of a sudden, because you’re robbed of your sight. You’re robbed of your senses.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rbqkz\">Frierson kept the camera rolling after he was sprayed. Shortly after, voices can be heard around him asking if he had been sprayed and helping to treat him. Someone pours a liquid into his eyes and on his face, explaining that it will reduce the stinging, and wiping his face and nose.</p><p data-block-key=\"za7ch\">“They got me right in the face, I saw it happening,” Frierson says in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vc7m\">Frierson was incapacitated, unable to see, for more than 10 minutes after he was sprayed, according to <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/09/protests-pepper-spray-police-george-floyd\">The Guardian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d59jo\">The Guardian reported that Frierson was clearly displaying a press badge at the time he was sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jlnd\">“I’d assumed they wouldn’t do anything to me because I was press and I had a camera in my arms, but I found out that I was wrong,” Frierson told the Guardian.</p><p data-block-key=\"2o9lp\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Rubber bullet hits LA Times photojournalist’s camera and arm",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rubber-bullet-hits-la-times-photojournalists-camera-and-arm/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-07T17:04:02.262217Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:43:36.105705Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:43:35.970803Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nq70r\">Los Angeles Times photographer Luis Sinco said his camera was struck by a rubber bullet, which also bruised his arm, while he was covering a protest in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6nke7\">Sinco was covering one of hundreds of protests against racial injustice and police brutality that were held across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"789r3\">Peaceful protests were held across the city earlier in the day on May 30, but by afternoon, people began looting and vandalizing property in some parts of the city, the <a href=\"https://laist.com/2020/05/30/los-angeles-george-floyd-protests-day-four.php\">LAist reported</a>. Later that day, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, and a curfew was imposed from 8 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. the following morning in LA and the surrounding area.</p><p data-block-key=\"3zzke\">Sinco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that he was covering a protest that night in downtown Los Angeles. Demonstrators were confronting police, and some people threw objects toward law enforcement, according to Sinco. Police began moving in a line formation toward the group of protesters, where Sinco was positioned, and two officers shot less-lethal projectiles, a category that includes rubber bullets, toward the demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"13y0g\">Sinco said that he was lowering his camera from his eye, holding it near his stomach, when a rubber bullet hit it. He said he could feel the impact of the projectile on the camera. The rubber bullet then ricocheted off and hit him near his elbow on the inner bicep of his left arm, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ef89r\">The projectile ripped through metal alloys of the body of the Canon 1DX camera, according to Sinco. A photograph he<a href=\"https://twitter.com/luissinco/status/1266683997913927680\"> posted on Twitter</a> shows a hole on the top of the camera exposing the interior of the device.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Check this out. Rubber bullet fired by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAPD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LAPD</a> gashes by camera instead of my face during <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloydprotest</a> in LA. <a href=\"https://t.co/aTh46j2DZa\">pic.twitter.com/aTh46j2DZa</a></p>— luis sinco (@luissinco) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luissinco/status/1266683997913927680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cpj5n\">Sinco said he tried to use the camera after it was hit, but it no longer worked.</p><p data-block-key=\"pb4lg\">Sinco believes he was likely hit because he was with the group of demonstrators that police were firing on. He said he does not think he was targeted because he was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"wel7z\">Sinco said he was wearing a press credential around his neck. The situation was chaotic, he said, and he did not identify himself verbally to police or protesters as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"qjro2\">The camera was substantially damaged and needed to be repaired, Sinco said. He said he had a bruise for several days where the rubber bullet ricocheted into his arm, but it was not very painful.</p><p data-block-key=\"g7i77\">“The camera took most of the force, I think,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"vlxur\">The damage to Sinco’s camera was referenced in a<a href=\"http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/146415.pdf\"> resolution</a> the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors<a href=\"https://mynewsla.com/crime/2020/06/09/l-a-county-supervisors-resolve-to-oppose-attacks-on-journalists/\"> adopted on June 9</a> affirming the rights of journalists to report without interference from law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"quz14\">Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment</p><p data-block-key=\"l780f\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with multiple projectiles while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-07T16:52:43.146211Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T21:10:39.641895Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T21:10:39.549116Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3tqfy\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern said he was shot by police with crowd-control projectiles twice while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"nbgea\">The L.A. protest was one of many held across the country in response to a video showing the police killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"jfp48\">The demonstration that began in the city’s Fairfax District started out peaceful, but tensions escalated later in the day as police cars were set on fire and law enforcement used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters, according to <a href=\"https://laist.com/2020/05/30/los-angeles-george-floyd-protests-day-four.php\">LAist</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8oj7\">Stern, whose work has been published by the Daily Mail and other publications, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he followed the protest from Pan Pacific Park as the crowd moved through the neighborhood, coming to a halt at the intersection of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue around 2:30 p.m. When a line of police formed to block the route along Third Street, Stern said he was among the protesters, at the front of the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"kgu10\">The police would occasionally shout “move back” and use batons to push the crowd of protesters back.</p><p data-block-key=\"v4s5z\">Stern said an officer was very aggressive with him, even though he was displaying press credentials and holding two professional cameras. He said the officers prodded him repeatedly in the ribs with a baton. Frustrated, Stern moved within the crowd of protesters to another area, but a second officer started jabbing him with a baton, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9h2qp\">The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"biq7r\">Stern said he moved again to another area within the protest group and displayed his press credentials to an officer who led him through the skirmish line, away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"agux2\">Stern said he was standing about 10 feet behind the line of police. He said he brought his camera up to his face to start taking photographs of a group of officers carrying crowd-control weapons as they walked under a cloud of smoke billowing from a police car that had been set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"izljy\">“As I started taking the picture I realized that one of the cops has got his 40-millimeter gun actually pointing straight at me,” Stern said.</p><p data-block-key=\"38u3t\">Stern told the Tracker he used his other hand to grab his press credentials, which were hanging from his neck on a lanyard, and held it up by the side of his face. He said he also shouted out that he was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"6buu2\">Then the officer fired, shooting Stern on his right thigh with a 40-millimeter crowd-dispersal round, Stern told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"g3zlj\">Stern said he wasn’t near any protesters when he was shot. He said he was the only civilian on that side of the police line and other officers were at least two yards away from him.</p><p data-block-key=\"avede\">About half an hour later, Stern said that he was standing talking with another journalist on the police side of the skirmish line when another round grazed his left knee. He said he didn’t see where the projectile came from, but he said both he and the other journalist were clearly identifiable as members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"3r6yh\">Stern said he believed he was targeted because he was a journalist. In addition to shouting out that he was a journalist and showing his press credentials, he said he was carrying two large Nikon cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"k1jof\">“It's clear that I was not a protester,” Stern said. “I see no other reason why I was targeted. I was not chanting, not acting aggressively.</p><p data-block-key=\"trw3w\">Stern said the shot on his right thigh was intensely painful. He had a bruise and said he had difficulty walking for about a week because it was painful to put pressure on that leg.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cudes\">Los Angeles Police officers respond to protests on May 30, 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Officers that day shot photojournalist Nick Stern with multiple crowd-control munitions and struck him with a baton.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"(2021-05-03 12:29:00+00:00) Photojournalist files lawsuit against LAPD",
"(2024-02-06 16:57:00+00:00) Photojournalist reaches $150k settlement in lawsuit against LAPD"
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{
"title": "Central Track editor hit with flash-bang grenade while covering Dallas protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/central-track-editor-hit-with-flash-bang-grenade-while-covering-dallas-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T18:31:46.778904Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:24:36.453280Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:24:36.375086Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8oyzw\">Pete Freedman, the co-founder and editor of the Dallas alternative news site Central Track, was hit with a flash-bang grenade while he was reporting on a protest in the Texas city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"qjg7c\">The protest against police brutality and racial injustice in Dallas was one of many held across the country in response to a video of the police killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"7cnv1\">Demonstrators gathered outside City Hall in Dallas early in the afternoon and briefly marched through downtown, <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2020/05/30/protesters-at-dallas-city-hall-say-no-more-and-focus-message-on-police-brutality/\">The Dallas Morning News</a> reported. When the protest returned to the plaza, confrontations escalated with police, and law enforcement used tear gas and flash bangs on the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"stva2\">Freedman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he started livestreaming the demonstration from around 3 or 4 p.m. He said tensions between protesters and police were high, with protesters shouting their frustrations at police, and police shouting instructions at the demonstrators. At one point, he said, a SWAT team arrived in armored trucks, shouting at protesters to move back onto the plaza from the street, and deploying tear gas on the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"itg8i\">Freedman said he was trying to get to the other side of City Hall around the east side of the building, but the police would only allow people to leave by going around the west side. He said he was walking with a crowd of people against the building while police fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward them.</p><p data-block-key=\"nct3t\">In a<a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA1BfSZBFmw/?igshid=f7dl99kx99wk\"> video</a> posted on Instagram, Freedman can be seen walking with protesters as police move the group toward the City Hall building.</p><p data-block-key=\"hxokd\">“They are literally putting our backs up against the wall here,” he says.</p><p data-block-key=\"goky9\">At the 33:30 mark, Freedman’s camera is pointing out to the empty plaza in front of the building, when a canister can be seen passing by before an orange flash in the lower right side of the frame. Freedman told the Tracker that was when the device hit him in the leg and exploded.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7a3n\">“There's no avoiding it,” he said. “It skirts right into my path and it happens to, like, explode right as it hits like my shin.”</p><p data-block-key=\"x719g\">Freedman said he was wearing a press badge, including his photo, outlet and the words “press” and “media,” on a lanyard. He said he didn’t believe he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said that the use of crowd-control devices seemed indiscriminate.</p><p data-block-key=\"15y68\">“The scary thing to me was that there was no regard for who anybody was,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"eaw6g\">A spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department told the Tracker they couldn’t find any record of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffqbg\">The explosion shocked him, he said. When he looked down a little while later, he said he saw he was bleeding. The device left him with a bruise and a cut, altogether the size of a baseball. He said the wound wasn’t very deep and he was able to follow the protests for the next eight hours without treating it, but it took about a month to fully heal.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfrwc\">Freedman said that he has covered many protests in Dallas in the past, but after he was hit with the flash-bang grenade, he was more alert about how to identify himself as a journalist. A few days later, he said he bought a vest marked “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ekaxl\">“Covering the rest of the summer I think I was much more aware of maybe having to better identify myself,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ulak\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
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{
"title": "KATV journalists hit with tear gas while covering Little Rock protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/katv-journalists-hit-with-tear-gas-while-covering-little-rock-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-23T22:06:25.855729Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:24:19.490770Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:24:19.410039Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Little Rock",
"longitude": -92.28959,
"latitude": 34.74648,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pefc8\">KATV News reporter Shelby Rose said she and several colleagues were hit with tear gas deployed by police while they covered protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"g5ko0\">The demonstrations in Little Rock were among many anti-racism protests across the country that were sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as well as other deaths of Black people at the hands of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"ds2hf\">Rose was covering the protests in downtown Little Rock as tensions escalated between police and protesters. According to the<a href=\"https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/may/31/in-lr-rally-near-capitol-turns-violent-/\"> Arkansas Democrat Gazette</a>, Arkansas State Police used tear gas multiple times that night to disperse protesters who gathered in the city’s downtown.</p><p data-block-key=\"84790\">Rose said she and four other KATV journalists were first hit with tear gas when they stood near a small group of protesters, shortly after the Arkansas State Police arrived. One journalist, digital reporter Paige Cushman, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had seen police using tear gas indiscriminately in a different area shortly before the news team was hit with it, and said she didn’t believe the news team had been targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7jte\">Rose said there were a handful of protesters near where she was standing with her colleagues, preparing for a live broadcast. She and members of her team were clearly identified as journalists. They were wearing polos with the KATV news logo and carrying camera equipment, including a powerful light used to shoot video, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"yiydf\">“There was no warning for tear gas,” she said. “They shot it right at us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"01qeq\">In a live broadcast shot immediately after tear gas was used, Rose walked along a sidewalk, with protesters visible nearby, describing the effects. “My eyes are currently burning right now,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"goj94\">In a clip from a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KATVChannel7/videos/248916816172334\">Facebook Live video</a> recorded by a colleague, Rose and other members of the team kneel on the ground, as someone helps her pour water in her eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"cmi0g\">Rose said she believes police intentionally fired tear gas toward her. “It was obvious who we were, and we were standing right next to them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wzg0d\">Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said in an email that the incident hadn’t been reported to the agency. He said police wouldn’t have fired on reporters standing near the police line, because the officers wouldn’t have deployed tear gas on themselves. “I assure you no tear gas was directed at any state troopers or reporters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xlhfe\">He also said police always issue a loud warning to disperse before using tear gas. Rose said she heard no announcement from police before the tear gas was deployed.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9vbx\">About 15 minutes later, Rose was standing on a corner on Martin Luther King Drive with no protesters near her when a tear gas canister landed near her, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ezool\">Video reviewed by the Tracker that was shot as Rose was broadcasting live shows a line of police carrying riot shields, blocking a street. A tear gas canister appears to be shot from the line of police, alight and trailed by a shower of sparks. As she reported on the scene, Rose initially called the canisters “fireworks,” before she realized they were tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"nucht\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "Arkansas",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist says he was kicked by individuals during L.A. protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-he-was-kicked-individuals-during-l-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-26T20:03:21.143332Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:24:01.369946Z",
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"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2w7cf\">Photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, said he was kicked by individuals while documenting protests in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvgjh\">The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"0lbt2\">Chiu <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ringochiu/posts/10159068500404063\">posted multiple photos</a> of bruises on his left leg and damage to his camera on Facebook the following day, with the caption, “Rubber bullet fired by LAPD and kicked by a protester…”</p><p data-block-key=\"g3b9i\">The Tracker documented the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-rubber-bullet-his-camera-damaged-during-l-protest/\">assault and equipment damage from the rubber bullets here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"anpfk\">Chiu told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email: “I am not sure whether or not I was targeted when I was kicked by the protesters during the chaos of the protest. They were attacking a police vehicle and most likely did not want me photographing them in the act.”</p><p data-block-key=\"945ye\">The Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-30/protesters-march-toward-beverly-hills-demanding-justice-for-george-floyd\">reported</a> that multiple vehicles belonging to the Los Angeles Police Department were vandalized and at least two were set on fire during the protests on May 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"hoc78\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country in 2020. Find these incidents <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with rubber bullet, his camera damaged during L.A. protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-rubber-bullet-his-camera-damaged-during-l-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-26T19:59:18.264733Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:43.340514Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:43.251300Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z9eqv\">Photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, was struck with a rubber bullet and had his camera damaged while documenting protests in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mu4p3\">The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"o2ncn\">In a post initially to Facebook and later shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu wrote that officers fired a rubber bullet that would have struck him in the upper body had it not been for his camera, which took the brunt of the hit. The lens hood of his Leica Q camera was damaged, as seen in photos posted to his <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ringochiu/posts/10159068500404063\">social media</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ringochiu/status/1274644151384985600\">accounts</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My Leica Q was hit by a rubber bullet fired by LAPD in a protest last month. Not working anymore 😭😭😭 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicaq?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicaq</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leica?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leica</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicala?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicala</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicaphotojournalism?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicaphotojournalism</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicalove?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicalove</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatters?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatters</a><br><br>📸 <a href=\"https://t.co/5G5YvhfQad\">https://t.co/5G5YvhfQad</a> via <a href=\"https://t.co/tFiRvDN0df\">https://t.co/tFiRvDN0df</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/0TtnqwOSXm\">pic.twitter.com/0TtnqwOSXm</a></p>— Ringo Chiu (@ringochiu) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ringochiu/status/1274644151384985600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 21, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4k70u\">Chiu told the Tracker that he was also struck on his inner left thigh with a second rubber bullet fired by law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"eaw1o\">CBSLA <a href=\"https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/05/30/hundreds-gather-in-fairfax-district-as-part-of-latest-protest-over-deadly-arrest-of-george-floyd/\">reported</a> that both Los Angeles Police Department officers and L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies were at the scene in tactical gear. Neither agency responded to requests for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"l4hir\">Chiu was also assaulted by individuals while documenting the protest, which the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-he-was-kicked-individuals-during-l-protest/\">Tracker has documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"o8s30\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country in 2020. Find these incidents <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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],
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},
{
"title": "Video journalist hit in head with projectile during DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-hit-head-projectile-during-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-04T20:37:59.843180Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:39.828885Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:39.742422Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zhgqy\">Ford Fischer, co-founder and editor-in-chief of News2Share, was struck with crowd-control munitions twice while on assignment for digital wire service <a href=\"https://www.zenger.news/\">Zenger</a> covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"gy977\">The Washington protests were part of a surge of demonstrations across the country, sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"02gzk\">Fisher, whose video news service focuses on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/N2Sreports\">"the latest on politics and activism,</a>” told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was watching a “stand-off” between riot officers and protesters in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. He said some demonstrators threw objects at police and ignited fireworks, and officers pushed back and shot crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"83ovh\">“At one point during that chaos I did get a sharp sting into my gut, and I was able to feel that it was a pepper ball because it releases a pepper-spray equivalent around it,” Fischer said. “But that was far enough from my face that it didn’t have the sort of blinding effect that being maced or taking a pepper ball closer to the face would have, so I essentially ignored it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v1gcn\">At around 11:45 p.m., Fischer said that fireworks set off by a protester landed somewhere between where he was standing and the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dl4c\">“I made a remark into my stream, jokingly, to the effect of, ‘Sorry, a firework blew up next to my head,’ and I was saying that because it was probably extremely loud to people watching,” Fischer said. That clip can be viewed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Zenger/status/1266977661462732806\">here</a>. The scene is then relatively quiet, until “about 20 seconds later, there was a pepper round that was shot and that hit my right shoulder,” Fischer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"eddir\">Fischer said that the round exploded close enough to his face that he felt the chemical irritant powder, which he said left him blinded for several minutes. He posted an image of the abrasion on his shoulder <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10221575675083394&set=pb.1298269668.-2207520000..&type=3&theater\">on Facebook</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"lyw8q\">Throughout the night, Fischer said, he heard a “rat-tat-tat-tat-tat” of officers firing off multiple rounds of pepper balls. When he was struck the second time, he said that he could hear only one shot fired. Because of that, he believes he was targeted: “I don’t think anybody could have focused in on me and seen anything other than a journalist.” Fischer said he was wearing his Congressional and White House press passes around his neck and carrying a “studio-sized” video camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"6zuyc\">“There was somebody who very quickly came to my aid and poured water in my eyes,” Fischer said. “And I was still kind of struggling as I walked north-bound away from it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hgpy1\">“Because I was still in residual pain and shaken up from that, I ended up leaving that protest pretty early,” Fischer said. “Once there was a safe way to exit, I did so.”</p><p data-block-key=\"078b6\">In Fischer’s footage from that night, some law enforcement officers appear to be carrying shields labeled with “military police” and “U.S. Park Police,” but it was not immediately clear to which agency the officers shooting belonged. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ssqi\">The following night, Fischer was struck in the forehead with a rubber bullet and detained by police. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-struck-crowd-control-munition-briefly-detained-amid-dc-protests/\">documented those incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved, car shot at by rubber bullets while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-car-shot-rubber-bullets-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-24T21:57:05.699319Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:24.547986Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:24.465102Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x9anz\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed by a law enforcement officer and her car window was shot out by rubber bullets fired by police while she was covering a protest in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0m9pm\">The protest in Los Angeles began as demonstrations erupted across the country, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital. Protests against police brutality and for racial justice have continued across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"rvigh\">Berg was on assignment for Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive media company, and was on her way to cover a protest on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. She told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that when she and a photographer parked the car, she got out and was confronted by a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She said she showed her press credentials and the officer left.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kf9u\">Minutes later, another member of the sheriff’s department confronted her, she said. Again, she showed her press credentials, but she said the law enforcement officer did not back off. According to Berg, he pushed her, backing her toward the street where a line of law enforcement vehicles were driving by. She said she feared she would be run over.</p><p data-block-key=\"00wv1\">As she was covering the protest, she said that law enforcement began deploying tear gas. She said that she was in close proximity to a canister fired by police which landed near her and another journalist, neither of whom were standing near protesters. She was disoriented and having trouble breathing, and protesters helped her to leave the area and recover from the gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"l3kwd\">Around 6:30 p.m., she began to leave the area in her car, Berg said. Body camera footage she later acquired from the Los Angeles Police Department showed officers had formed a line across a broad street and started firing crowd control munitions, like rubber bullets.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgj92\">Cars were stuck in traffic and could not leave the area. Berg said that she put her head out of the window and asked the police where they were supposed to go.</p><p data-block-key=\"npyx8\">She said that an officer looked at her, then fired shots at her vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"o9cx4\">The rubber bullets shattered the glass of her rear window, leaving large holes, and left dents in the body of her car, photos show.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The cops just shot out by back window. And it was completely unnecessary. This after tear gas, being ribbed by a bully stick and other atrocities. And I had my press credentials visible. Coverage of today to follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StatusCoup</a>. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/laprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#laprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/pSdLtSIAXq\">pic.twitter.com/pSdLtSIAXq</a></p>— Notorious Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1266922413591105536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cevqd\">A spokesperson for the LAPD said the department was not aware of the incident and that the department does not deploy tear gas. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"903cx\">Berg said that she has communicated with the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles about joining a class action lawsuit about police conduct during the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"i4gee\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Berg_assault_0530_CA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xiuev\">While covering a May 30, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg says law enforcement pushed her and later shattered the window of her car with rubber bullets.</p>",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Russian journalist targeted with pepper spray while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/russian-journalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:45:45.616728Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:01:54.279467Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:01:54.198381Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0qzpi\">Mikhail Turgiev, a correspondent with the Russian news agency RIA, was targeted with pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3bqsy\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"mps4g\">Turgiev told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that police pepper-sprayed at about 11 p.m. after he had taken refuge in a Vice News crew’s vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"jphhf\">Turgiev said he told the officer he was a member of the press and showed his State Department-issued press credentials, and then an officer pepper-sprayed him, according to a video from the Russian government-funded channel <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtDsQjTweT0\">Sputnik</a>. The journalist was able to turn his head and the spray only got into his right eye, he said in that video.</p><p data-block-key=\"fu2ms\">“There’s no explanation of why they used this kind of force,” Turgiev told Sputnik.</p><p data-block-key=\"munen\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpwwu\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Mikhail Turgiev (RIA)"
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},
{
"title": "WLKY correspondent targeted with flash-bang grenades while covering protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wlky-correspondent-targeted-with-flash-bang-grenades-while-covering-protests-in-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T19:56:14.082226Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:22:43.658495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:22:43.567455Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymggo\">Stephon Dingle, a correspondent for local broadcast station WLKY, and his news crew were targeted with flash-bang grenades thrown by individuals while covering protests in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"jr8j9\">Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"yb2l3\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606\">post to Twitter</a> at 10:43 p.m., Dingle said that individuals had thrown flash-bang grenades, a nonlethal device typically used by police, at him and his crew. Dingle did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"pnavn\">“And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed,” Dingle wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/chaos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chaos</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WLKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WLKY</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/8xw32Xb5j4\">pic.twitter.com/8xw32Xb5j4</a></p>— Stephon Dingle WLKY (@Stephon_Dingle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k9144\">In the Twitter video, two members of the WLKY news crew talk about being hit with the projectiles — and one shows a mark on his body — but it did not identify the men. The Tracker has documented their assaults as Anonymous WLKY 1 and Anonymous WLKY 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfuop\">At least one other WLKY news crew was also attacked and two WLKY news vehicles were vandalized that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented all May 29 WLKY incidents <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-29&date_upper=2020-05-29&targeted_institutions=265\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zx24\">The Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Stephon Dingle (WLKY)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist targeted with tear gas while covering Dallas protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-targeted-with-tear-gas-while-covering-dallas-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T15:44:58.772029Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:44.861364Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:44.776858Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dm76l\">A news crew with CBS Channel 11 covering protests in Dallas was forced to scatter when a police officer tossed an activated canister of tear gas at two journalists as they were about to go live on air on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkj67\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"v20b5\">Photojournalist Bret Kelly and reporter Steve Pickett were stationed in downtown Dallas covering protests. At around 10:15 p.m., they were getting ready to begin their live shot. Typically, the station would have alerted them both, but they had only one working earpiece so Pickett told Kelly aloud, Kelly told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1ib2\">Kelly believes that a Dallas police officer standing 10 feet away overheard him. "As soon as [Pickett] said that, an officer took a canister and tossed it right at our feet, underhand, like he was playing cornhole," Kelly said. The canister landed on the ground between them and started spewing tear gas. "By then we were live," Kelly said. "We got gassed pretty hard and took flight a little bit."</p><p data-block-key=\"53lmq\">Pickett can be seen on CBS 11 <a href=\"https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/05/29/cbs-11-reporter-steve-pickett-overcome-tear-gas-covering-george-floyd-protest/\">video</a> struggling to breathe and find a way out of the area where the gas was deployed. "I’m trying to get out of the tear gas, this is killing us," Pickett says to the studio journalist as his eyes visibly water and he stumbles his way out of the cloud. He tells his colleague that earlier that night he was also threatened with arrest. The Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-channel-11-prepared-go-live-dallas-officer-tosses-tear-gas-canister-toward-news-crew/\">documented his assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9eww\">Kelly <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BKSpxshooter11/status/1266901579728379908\">wrote</a> about the experience on Twitter the next day, saying “ ... I was nowhere near any protesters. Definitely a conscious decision by that officer.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Happened to me last night, when I was nowhere near any protesters. Definitely a conscious decision by that officer.</p>— Bret Kelly (@BKSpxshooter11) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BKSpxshooter11/status/1266901579728379908?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vsvor\">An emailed request for comment sent to the Dallas Police Department about the incident was not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"rwd85\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bret Kelly (KTVT)"
],
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}
]
