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[
{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested, equipment seized while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-24T18:01:25.061601Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:38:08.981505Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:38:08.873015Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atlanta",
"longitude": -84.38798,
"latitude": 33.749,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cfnx4\">Freelance photojournalist Sharif Hassan was arrested and his equipment seized while covering protests in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 1, 2020, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf in November 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8q4b\">Protests against police violence broke out across the country in the summer of 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"b55og\">On May 30, then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms <a href=\"https://citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=3673\">issued a curfew order</a> for the subsequent three days. The order, which had no explicit exception for members of the media or other essential workers, ordered residents off the streets between 9 p.m. and sunrise.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">City of Atlanta curfew continues at 9:00 p.m. tonight and Thursday night. An 8:00 p.m. to sunrise curfew is effective Friday (6/5), Saturday (6/6) & Sunday (6/7). Exceptions apply to people seeking medical help, working, first responders & homeless. Call <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ATL311?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ATL311</a> for details. <a href=\"https://t.co/RZifP9dFOQ\">pic.twitter.com/RZifP9dFOQ</a></p>— City of Atlanta, GA (@CityofAtlanta) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CityofAtlanta/status/1268222515400368129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 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=\"cfnx4\">According to his <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.296639/gov.uscourts.gand.296639.1.0_2.pdf\">lawsuit</a>, Hassan — whose work has been published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine and National Geographic Adventure, among others — arrived at The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change near downtown Atlanta in the late afternoon. He then photographed the planned protest as the crowd marched toward the CNN Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvsk1\">Officers with the National Guard, Atlanta Police Department and FBI were stationed downtown, according to court filings by the city of Atlanta.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecgmj\">Shortly before the curfew went into effect, a line of APD officers began pushing the crowd north on Centennial Olympic Park Drive, followed by a line of National Guardsmen, Hassan’s lawsuit states. Hassan and other members of the press walked behind the line of APD officers and ahead of the National Guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"22rdt\">As the demonstrators and police passed through an intersection, an unidentified man ran down the side street and was pursued by officers who arrested him. Hassan followed and began photographing from a safe distance, according to his suit. Without being given any directions or an order to disperse, two officers approached Hassan and made him lie face-down on the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"e10eo\">According to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.296639/gov.uscourts.gand.296639.30.0.pdf\">disclosures</a> filed by the city, Hassan was directed to leave or face arrest but refused to do so. The filing also asserts that Hassan did not identify himself as a journalist to the arresting officers, nor did he provide “media credentials or any other paraphernalia that would identify him as such.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c21nh\">Hassan’s suit states that he identified himself as a member of the press when officers zip-tied his hands behind his back and told him that he was under arrest for violating the curfew order.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r4o2\">Hassan’s camera, at least two lenses and two loose memory cards were seized by police. The photojournalist was held overnight at the Atlanta City Detention Center. Hassan was released in the late afternoon on June 2, but his camera and lenses were not returned until a week later.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1c81\">One of Hassan’s attorneys told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in February 2023 that the two SD cards Hassan had been carrying in his pocket were never returned to him, and police have neither acknowledged that they are still in custody nor provided explanation. Hassan was not available for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvafp\">According to the suit, Hassan appeared for three hearings beginning in September 2020. At the final hearing in January 2021, prosecutors dropped the charge against him for what they described as evidentiary reasons.</p><p data-block-key=\"akkte\">Attorneys filed the lawsuit on Hassan’s behalf against the city of Atlanta and three APD officers in November 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"el5da\">“Hassan’s arrest, detention, and prosecution have chilled him from documenting political protest events due to concern that he will again be wrongfully arrested,” the lawsuit states. “By failing to explicitly exclude basic newsgathering from the facial scope of the Atlanta Curfew Orders, the City, without factual basis, deprived Hassan and other working members of the media of their First Amendment press freedoms while the public lost its eyes and ears on events of significant importance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dbb32\">According to court filings reviewed by the Tracker, Hassan and the city are engaged in settlement discussions as of early 2023.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS3A1CR.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dmgse\">National Guard troops were part of the law enforcement response to protests in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, on June 1, 2020. Photojournalist Sharif Hassan was arrested, his equipment seized while documenting the demonstrations against police brutality.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Atlanta Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-06-02",
"detention_date": "2020-06-01",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:21-cv-04629",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera lens"
},
{
"quantity": 3,
"equipment": "storage device"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-05-08 15:36:00+00:00) Atlanta agrees to pay photojournalist $105,000 to settle lawsuit following 2020 arrest, equipment seizure"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sharif Hassan (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photographer struck in face with officer’s baton while documenting protests; lawsuit filed against NYPD",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-struck-in-face-with-officers-baton-while-documenting-protests-lawsuit-filed-against-nypd/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-18T14:02:46.749071Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:41.782646Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:41.552741Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pewnm\">Documentary and news photographer Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi was assaulted by a baton-wielding New York Police Department officer while she was photographing police beating a young man in lower Manhattan on June 1, 2020, according to a federal lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"od0qc\">Alhindawi is one of five news photographers who filed a <a href=\"https://nppa.org/news/news-photographers-file-civil-rights-lawsuit-against-new-york-city-police-department\">federal lawsuit</a> on Aug. 5, 2021, “seeking to hold the New York Police Department [NYPD] accountable for its violation of their First Amendment rights.” The suit is being led by the National Press Photographers Association, of which four of the journalists are members, in partnership with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdddu\">According to the <a href=\"https://nppa.org/sites/default/files/Gray%20v%20City%20of%20New%20York%20et%20al%20-%20Complaint%20-%20Filed%208-5-2021.pdf\">complaint</a>, Alhindawi was photographing NYPD officers beating a young man inside a Foot Locker store at 440 Broadway that had been broken into, “taking a position near the store window and to the left of the security gate,” alongside several other photographers. When the photographers were directed by officers to move back from the window, they complied and shifted to the other edge of the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"vo20u\">“Alhindawi was staring down at the tilted-up view screen of her camera, focusing on getting her shot,” when at least two NYPD officers charged toward the group of photographers, according to the complaint. One swung a baton at Alhindawi, “striking her in the face and splitting her lip open.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cc3ro\">“This is an unprovoked assault. It's one thing to order or request someone to move back,” Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel to the NPPA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “It's another thing to physically assault someone for no apparent reason.” Osterreicher confirmed Alhindawi was carrying a camera and wearing a Frontline Freelance Register credential.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ph8e\">Alhindawi and the New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. 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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS3A29V_-_Reuters_-_Caitlin_Ochs.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h3gxw\">Police after a New York protest on June 1, 2020, following the killing of George Floyd. Journalist Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi was photographing police beating a man during that day’s protest when an officer hit her in the face.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:21-cv-06610",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-02-07 00:00:00+00:00) Judge accepts journalists’ settlement with NYPD",
"(2023-09-08 00:00:00+00:00) Judge voids First Amendment settlement with NYPD",
"(2025-04-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court affirms photographers’ settlement with NYPD",
"(2023-09-05 15:13:00+00:00) Journalists reach 'historic' settlement with NYPD in First Amendment suit"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Student journalist pepper sprayed, threatened with arrest during Columbus protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-pepper-sprayed-threatened-with-arrest-during-columbus-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:25:20.469791Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T22:03:30.599016Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T22:03:30.537048Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Columbus",
"longitude": -82.99879,
"latitude": 39.96118,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yi1m0\">Three journalists from The Lantern, the Ohio State University student newspaper, were pepper sprayed and threatened with arrest by police officers while covering protests in Columbus, Ohio, on June 1, 2020. The three students clearly and repeatedly identified themselves as members of the media before the assault, according to interviews with the journalists and video footage of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9wd3\">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 violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"wmu2r\">On the night of June 1, Lantern editors Sarah Szilagy, Max Garrison and Maeve Walsh were covering peaceful protests that had moved from the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus toward the Ohio State University campus. About 20 minutes after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect, the protesters reached the intersection of North High Street and Lane Avenue on the edge of campus.</p><p data-block-key=\"l8lug\">Up until this point, the journalists had not noticed a police presence. A few minutes after reaching the intersection, however, police cars suddenly arrived and stopped behind the protesters, Walsh and Garrison told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Szilagy, the Lantern’s campus editor, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"r7r6b\">Police officers got out of their cars, walked swiftly through the crowd, and began using pepper spray to disperse the protesters, they said. The three journalists, who were standing behind a concrete barrier on the sidewalk, somewhat removed from the protesters in the street, remained on the scene as the protesters left, Walsh and Garrison told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"wee2a\">The journalists were then approached from multiple directions by officers ordering them to “go home” because of the curfew, according to an <a href=\"https://www.thelantern.com/2020/06/lantern-journalists-targeted-by-police-pepper-sprayed/\">account</a> of the incident Garrison wrote for The Lantern. They continued to film and identify themselves as press, holding their press passes in the air, Walsh said. The officers responded that they “don’t care” and threatened to arrest the journalists if they didn’t disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"3tgmt\">Another group of officers approached and “got very close to us,” according to Garrison, forcing them to step back. Garrison said one officer pushed him. Another shot pepper spray at the group from point-blank range, hitting him on the arm and Szilagy in the eyes, Garrison said. Walsh was not directly hit, but said the gas made her cough.</p><p data-block-key=\"g8pqx\">In a video of the incident The Lantern posted to Twitter, the journalists are pepper sprayed after repeatedly identifying as media who are “exempt from curfew.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi everyone: this was me. I was sprayed in the face after we identified ourselves and presented our press passes multiple times. Media are exempt from curfew. Media are exempt from curfew. <a href=\"https://t.co/DAIDudVpud\">https://t.co/DAIDudVpud</a></p>— Sarah Szilagy (@sarahszilagy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahszilagy/status/1267645179567263746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"te81h\">Adam Cairns, a staff photographer with the Columbus Dispatch, witnessed the attack. Cairns told the Tracker that he had been standing near the edge of the intersection with the student journalists, but turned to walk away before another officer came around the corner and shot pepper spray at the journalists. “[I] will attest that they were screaming at the cops that they were media,” Cairns <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267661446411943936\">posted to Twitter</a>. “Police, despite clearly seeing press credentials, did not care. I crossed Lane at that point and missed the pepper spray.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is a photo of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheLantern</a> journalists showing their press IDs to police moments before being pepper sprayed <a href=\"https://t.co/Mvr4TLT83F\">pic.twitter.com/Mvr4TLT83F</a></p>— Adam Cairns (@atomicphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267675830882369536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"dd5ri\">The three journalists turned to flee but were followed by an officer who fired pepper spray at their backs before they turned into an alley, according to Garrison. They then sought refuge nearby at the house of their editor, Sam Raudins, where they spent several hours recovering. None of them returned to the protests that night. “They basically just censored us,” Szilagy <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/06/03/ohio-state-student-journalists-told-police-they-were-media-then-police-sprayed-them/\">told The Washington Post</a>, “and made us incapable of covering other things that happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mdtgz\">In the hours following the attack, Raudins sent an email to the Columbus Division of Police reporting the incident. “This was not our team getting caught in the crossfire; this was a direct interaction between CPD and The Lantern,” she wrote in the letter posted to Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our editor-in-chief <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sam_raudins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sam_raudins</a> emailed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ColumbusPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ColumbusPolice</a>, reporting how officers threatened to arrest and then pepper-sprayed our reporters after our reporters identified themselves as members of the news media. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/columbusprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#columbusprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/UXaSYC9bVQ\">pic.twitter.com/UXaSYC9bVQ</a></p>— The Lantern (@TheLantern) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern/status/1267654250072588288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"0w19m\">In a press conference the following day, Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was asked about the police officers’ treatment of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d4mx\">“There’s no malice involved, there’s no intent, it’s just a very chaotic situation,” Quinlan <a href=\"https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/watch-mayor-ginther-chief-quinlan-hold-briefing-discuss-columbus-protests-2020-jun/530-d7f35334-ca71-40fb-9508-6ca49a458c8f\">said</a>. “And in that regard, I’d ask the public to have some patience and please comply, and we’ll work it out afterward. But please don’t stand there and argue; move along and comply and we’ll fix this after the fact so nothing bad happens.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64o5x\">Quinlan also said, “we are dealing with imperfect human beings in imperfect situations. Mistakes will happen and we will take action to correct them and make sure that we do not allow our mistakes to be repeated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ixud4\">When asked specifically about the incident involving the Ohio State student journalists, Quinlan said the reporters were not easily recognizable as news media, but the department had launched an internal affairs investigation of the officers, the <a href=\"https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200602/columbus-police-to-investigate-officers-who-pepper-sprayed-ohio-state-student-journalists?rssfeed=true\">Dispatch reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"62fwi\">“We are aware of the incident in question and it is currently under investigation per our use of force policy,” Sergeant James Fuqua, public information officer, said in response to the Tracker’s request for a status update.</p><p data-block-key=\"2p5dn\">The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6b8v\">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=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=111\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sarah Szilagy (The Lantern)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Telemundo bureau chief hit with projectile, tear gassed during protests in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/telemundo-bureau-chief-hit-with-projectile-tear-gassed-during-protests-in-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:32:15.108494Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:55:14.565098Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:55:14.486801Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vb9jb\">Multiple journalists for the Spanish-language outlet Telemundo reported being hit with projectiles while covering protests near the White House on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2uraj\">The protests that day were part of a wave of demonstrations resulting from a viral video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"cboxu\">The Telemundo journalists — bureau chief Lori Montenegro, senior Washington correspondent Cristina Londoño Rooney and cameraman Edwin López — reported being hit with projectiles as law enforcement officials attempted to disperse protesters half an hour before the district’s 7 p.m. curfew on June 1 and as President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Rose Garden, nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"tlvm0\">Emailed requests to the Telemundo journalists for interviews were not returned as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"qi3ig\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luisfemiami/status/1267615162355388417\">video</a> posted shortly before being hit, Londoño described “a very tense atmosphere” and how tear gas was “already starting to make our throats itch.” She wondered if “protesters are aware that the president will be addressing the nation any time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1utwb\">After the attack, the Colombian journalist posted a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=731606084241442\">video</a> in which she detailed the journalists’ injuries, stating that Montenegro had been hit on the back and that her throat was sore after breathing air filled with tear gas; that López had been hit on his right arm and ribs; and that law enforcement had used “long weapons that were pointing at us” to push them out of the area close to the White House.</p><p data-block-key=\"hziq8\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704/photo/1\">tweet on June 5</a>, Londoño shared pictures of her wounds and bruises, writing, “The White House also said rubber bullets were not used. Can anyone tell me what this looks like?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">La Casa Blanca negó que usaron gases lacrimógenos o balas de goma para dispersar a los manifestantes y periodistas el lunes. Sentí los gases y el <a href=\"https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@washingtonpost</a> ahora los confirma. Y esto ¿Me pueden decir esto qué es? <a href=\"https://t.co/CkjEIPSwqu\">pic.twitter.com/CkjEIPSwqu</a></p>— Cristina Londoño Rooney (@CristiLondono) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"jqhha\">D.C. is notable for the<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\"> large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. Park Police said in a <a href=\"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/6_2_20_statement_from_acting_chief_monahan.htm\">statement</a> on June 2 that its officers and other assisting law enforcement partners had not used tear gas that day, though multiple outlets, including the <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/park-police-spokesman-acknowledges-chemical-agents-used-on-lafayette-square-protesters-are-similar-to-tear-gas/2020/06/05/971a8d78-a75a-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html\">Washington Post</a>, have reported that “chemical agents” were deployed. Regarding this particular incident, Park Police did not respond to our request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4xty\">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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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"tags": [
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Des Moines Register reporter hit with pepper spray in face after repeatedly identifying as press",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/des-moines-register-reporter-hit-pepper-spray-face-after-repeatedly-identifying-press/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-21T16:05:13.527942Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-07T14:24:30.092794Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-07T14:24:29.991679Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ugm8i\">In the chaos following a dispersal order by the Des Moines police at a June 1, 2020, protest, a police officer pepper sprayed Des Moines Register reporter Katie Akin, hitting her in the eye and ear. A video she took of the incident shows her repeatedly identifying herself as press while fleeing from a clash between police and protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"xp396\">The June 1 protest was one of a series in Des Moines that began after the May 25 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer. As the protests continued, on May 31 the Polk County, Iowa, Board of Supervisors implemented a 9 p.m. curfew <a href=\"https://www.kcrg.com/2020/05/31/polk-county-announces-curfew-following-weekend-violent-protests/\">due to</a> “the violent outbreak of civil unrest” in Des Moines. Protesters defied the curfew, Akin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview, but their demonstrations remained “pretty orderly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fzps4\">Akin’s tweets created a timeline of the protest that congregated at the state capitol just before 11 p.m on June 1, where several hundred protesters <a href=\"https://twitter.com/katie_akin/status/1267669618988105729\">confronted</a> 50 police officers lined up at the top of the steps. At 11:30 p.m., Akin tweeted that the crowd heard a police officer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/katie_akin/status/1267676241848606722?s=20\">announce</a> an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"e5u4d\">Akin told Tracker that she and fellow Register reporter Shelby Fleig chose a grassy spot off to the side to separate themselves from the clash while still being able to record the confrontation between police and protesters. She said she and Fleig each had press badges and “tried to stay out of the way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"smaz5\">At 11:40 p.m., Akin <a href=\"https://twitter.com/katie_akin/status/1267677417872777218\">tweets</a>, “Shelby and I are safely to the side (hopefully). A protester near us said the police said it’s the final warning. Crowd holds their hands up. A tense moment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vc41g\">Two videos posted by Akin document the police line moving down the capitol steps to confront the protesters. The videos, which Akin shot from some distance to the side of the protests, also show more officers arriving from different directions, as police begin clearing the crowd using pepper spray and flash bang canisters. In the first video, as protesters flee the scene, Akin also begins to move away, passing by police officers as she goes. Several police officers lower their batons and let her pass as she yells repeatedly “I’m press,” “I’m with The Des Moines Register,” and “I’m going.” Akin identifies herself as press 17 times in 30 seconds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s the advance. Shelby and I are safe with an editor now. <a href=\"https://t.co/S2MphcXuSF\">pic.twitter.com/S2MphcXuSF</a></p>— Katie Akin (@katie_akin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/katie_akin/status/1267693240985190400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"yhw0s\">The second video shows some of the same footage of Akin fleeing the scene past police officers. Then one officer, holding a red spray can, runs up to her as she is yelling, “I’m with The Des Moines Register, I’m going, I’m going.” The officer yells, “Get the fuck out of here,” and sprays Akin with the canister. She continues running away, eventually is reunited with reporter Fleig, and says that she was hit with pepper spray and can’t see out of her eye.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s me getting pepper sprayed. <a href=\"https://t.co/YlDnLezPLR\">pic.twitter.com/YlDnLezPLR</a></p>— Katie Akin (@katie_akin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/katie_akin/status/1267694434847731713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"ugkct\">The following morning, Gov. Kim Reynolds <a href=\"http://www.iowapbs.org/video/story/36610/iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-press-conference-june-2-2020-11-am\">held a news conference</a>, where Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens answered a few questions about the protests. Bayens said law enforcement’s response to the protests had been defined by “restraint, restraint, restraint,” adding that law enforcement did not have “any desire to see anyone that is there in a peaceful capacity or as a member of the media to get caught up with [pepper spraying and all] that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"izkly\">A Des Moines Register <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/06/02/des-moines-police-pepper-spray-journalist-iowa-george-floyd-protest-des-moines-register-reporter/3126478001/\">article</a> from the next day reported that Executive Editor Carol Hunter asked Des Moines police to conduct an internal review of the incident. Akin said she gave a statement to police shortly after that but has not heard any updates since.</p><p data-block-key=\"004ao\">The morning podcast 1460 KXNO Morning Rush, located in Des Moines, has a weekly segment called “Ask 5-0 anything,” in which police officer Paul Parezik answers callers’ questions. During the June 2 program, Parezik, who is seen as an informal spokesperson for the Des Moines police, <a href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-5-0-anything-tuesday-hour-2/id986077468?i=1000476531613\">reflected that</a> members of the media “have to step to the side and get out of the mix” when dispersal orders are given. He also spoke on the necessity of having clear credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfi03\">Akin said that she and Fleig both had clear credentials. As for getting “out of the mix,” Akin — whose videos were shot a clear distance from the protesters — told the Tracker she “can’t think of a way that I could be close to the action and seeing what was going on without getting squeezed into it.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Akin_assault_0601_IA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"j28ou\">Des Moines Register reporter Katie Akin caught on camera the moment a police officer pepper sprayed her in the face as she was moving out of the way of police on June 1, 2020.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Katie Akin (The Des Moines Register)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Australian correspondent assaulted by police amid crackdowns in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-assaulted-police-chaotic-crackdowns-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-29T14:24:13.665893Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:54.023331Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:53.895498Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dl60o\">A news crew for Australia’s 7News was assaulted by law enforcement while covering protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020, a chaotic day for demonstrations throughout the nation’s capital.</p><p data-block-key=\"byxi5\">Correspondent Amelia Brace and cameraman Tim Myers were reporting live on-air amid a group of protesters facing a police line when officers rushed the crowd. An officer wearing riot gear can be <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1267592137735991296?s=20\">seen pushing</a> Myers with a shield and hitting his camera. As Myers and Brace fled the scene, an officer can be seen swinging a baton at Brace.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Watch the shocking moment <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/7NEWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#7NEWS</a> reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AmeliaBrace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmeliaBrace</a> and our cameraman were knocked over by a police officer LIVE on air after chaos erupted in Washington DC. <a href=\"https://t.co/R8KJLnfxPN\">pic.twitter.com/R8KJLnfxPN</a></p>— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1267587976986427393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 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=\"e14q7\">“They were quite violent and they do not care who they’re targeting at the moment,” Brace told in-studio anchors during a <a href=\"https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/scary-moment-as-sunrise-reporter-caught-up-in-us-violence-c-1073136\">subsequent report for 7News</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0r5ua\">“We were trying to move on. The last thing we ever want is to get in the way, but there was just no opportunity,” she continued. “There was really no choice but to try to hide in that corner, hoping that they pass by ... as you can see in those pictures, they did not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i3qus\">Brace also told the anchors that a rubber bullet hit her “on the backside” and that another round struck Myers on the neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"qyar3\">7News did not respond to requests for comment or make its journalists available for interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"h48ya\">D.C. is notable for the<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\"> large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia did not respond to requests for comment on these incidents as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"7pcho\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed 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.</p><p data-block-key=\"osss6\">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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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nbuk3\">Law enforcement officers rush protestors and observers in Lafayette Park and near the White House on June 1, 2020, in Washington, D.C., to clear a path for the president.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera lens"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-05-24 11:17:00+00:00) Investigation finds that officers used excessive force against Australian correspondent, photojournalist"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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"Equipment Damage"
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist arrested while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-arrested-while-covering-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-20T16:11:22.603129Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:57:35.893815Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:57:35.794845Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lqcsc\">Independent journalist Jeff Weiss was arrested while covering protests in Los Angeles on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6i8ad\">Weiss was covering the protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement for Los Angeles Magazine. He declined an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, but referred to his <a href=\"https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/los-angeles-protests-essay/\">written first-person account</a> and answered follow up questions via email.</p><p data-block-key=\"9e7ad\">According to his article, Weiss was heading home from other local protests shortly after the citywide 6 p.m. curfew when he encountered a group protesting in the middle of Sunset Boulevard near the Palladium.</p><p data-block-key=\"x4zjt\">Weiss wrote that the police moved in on the protesters without ordering them to disperse or giving a warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihr3n\">“Consider it white privilege or journalistic entitlement, but a part of me dumbly believed that the cops wouldn’t actually arrest me,” Weiss wrote. “In theory, that whole enshrined in the Constitution combo of ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘freedom of the press’ should have had me covered.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s8l95\">When an officer approached him and zip-tied his wrists, Weiss said he told the officer that he was a journalist. Weiss and others who had been arrested were held on the street for about an hour. The arresting officer asked Weiss for his press pass, and Weiss explained that he didn’t have one.</p><p data-block-key=\"rjpje\">Press passes are a “particularly antiquated bastion of a bygone era,” Weiss told the Tracker in an email. Many journalists will never be on staff at a publication, and therefore not receive one, he said. Some publications don’t issue press passes to journalists on their staffs, Weiss said.</p><p data-block-key=\"lg94c\">“It's a farcical conceit that police can use every form of surveillance technology — whether it's facial recognition or getting warrants to search social media accounts — but can't do a two second Google [search] to verify a journalist's information before arresting them,” Weiss said.</p><p data-block-key=\"g66xx\">The officer who arrested Weiss told him that he believed that Weiss is a journalist, according to Weiss’s magazine account. But the officer told Weiss, “it’s out of my hands. Nothing I can do.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bjte1\">Weiss also spoke to a police lieutenant to explain that he was a journalist, according to the article. “I tell him that I’m a journalist and a writer and besides, really, this is really a first amendment freedom of speech thing anyway, and none of these violations will actually hold up in a court,” Weiss wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3j6l\">The lieutenant responded, “Well, what are you? A writer or a journalist?” Weiss wrote that he did not continue to argue with the lieutenant.</p><p data-block-key=\"fue40\">Weiss was transported with others who had been arrested to a processing facility set up by the Los Angeles Police Department. After waiting several hours, Weiss received a citation for violating curfew. He was required to sign a document promising to appear in court before March 2021. He was released shortly before 11 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"ovwrb\">Police confiscated Weiss’s phone, which he had been using to take notes, during his arrest, Weiss told the Tracker. He wrote that his phone was returned with the rest of his belongings after he was processed and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bx58\">On June 8,<a href=\"https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/district-attorney-jackie-lacey-will-not-file-charges-curfew-violations-failure-disperse\"> Los Angeles County District Attorney</a> Jackie Lacey announced that she would not prosecute citations for violating curfew or failing to disperse. <a href=\"https://www.lacityattorney.org/post/feuer-takes-restorative-non-punitive-approach-outside-the-court-system-for-peaceful-protesters\">Los Angeles City Attorney</a> Mike Feuer said he would resolve cases involving peaceful protesters in a “restorative approach” outside of the court system.</p><p data-block-key=\"gzrfc\">Weiss told the Tracker he received communication from the city that the charges against him were dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ilduh\">The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ytwpb\">The Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had 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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2020-10-20_Jeff_Weiss_.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"foti5\">Independent journalist Jeff Weiss posted a screenshot of his June 1 arrest in Los Angeles to his Instagram account.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeff Weiss (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Russian reporter assaulted by police in chaotic June 1 crackdowns in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/russian-reporter-assaulted-by-police-in-chaotic-june-1-crackdowns-in-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:38:05.345715Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:56:47.252712Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:56:47.160780Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"49psi\">Nicole Roussell, a reporter for Sputnik, a Russian state-owned outlet, was struck by multiple crowd-control munitions, shoved and pepper sprayed by law enforcement while covering protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020, a chaotic day for demonstrations throughout the nation’s capital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ah8d9\">Roussell told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she had been filming what she described as peaceful protests near the White House and Lafayette Square when police in riot gear began to fire rubber bullets and mace at the crowd, brandish their batons and use their shields to shove people.</p><p data-block-key=\"lbpv7\">Rousell said she did not come out unscathed: She told the Tracker she got hit with rubber bullets, with her employer sharing <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1267811305953492995\">images of her injuries</a> on Twitter; caught in the mace, despite yelling, “I’m press! I’m press!” to police, holding up her press badge and donning a reflective orange vest at the time; and, at a moment when police advanced on the crowd, had an officer push her with his shield, causing her to fall and hit her elbow, ribs and leg on the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">PHOTOS | Nicole sustained wounds from rubber bullets that were fired by US police, while she had on press credentials and vocally stated she was part of the press covering the protests<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloydProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackOutTuesday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlackOutTuesday</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/XulcUeVitf\">https://t.co/XulcUeVitf</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/3PziHUzJgr\">pic.twitter.com/3PziHUzJgr</a></p>— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1267811305953492995?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"d9sgc\">The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation <a href=\"https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4145285\">issued a statement</a> on the incident the following day, writing, in part, “We regard the deliberate attack on Nicole Roussell, a producer at the Sputnik News Agency, in Washington on June 1, 2020, as an unfriendly step on the part of the US authorities, as well as a flagrant violation of their international legal obligations to ensure the safety of journalists and their unhindered work.”</p><p data-block-key=\"deuat\">D.C. is notable for the<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\"> large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia also did not respond to requests for comment on these incidents as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"0jvxm\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed 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.</p><p data-block-key=\"yite5\">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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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nicole Roussell (Sputnik)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Portland: While reporting on protests in the city, journalists tear gassed, threatened",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-while-reporting-protests-city-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-15T15:29:09.582839Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:02:02.657724Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:02:02.431084Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"khzc0\">George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsv87\">In <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-25&date_upper=2020-12-31&city=Portland&state=Oregon&tags=Black+Lives+Matter\">Portland, Oregon</a>, the protests have been particularly acute, not only in their <a href=\"https://apnews.com/b57315d97dd2146c4a89b4636faa7b70\">duration</a>, but also their <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/us/portland-federal-legal-jurisdiction-courts.html\">intensity</a>. Not coincidentally, the journalists who’ve documented the unfolding events have seemingly faced a heightened level of risk, most notably in their interactions with local and federal law enforcement. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">filed a class-action lawsuit</a> in June “on behalf of journalists and legal observers who were targeted and attacked by the police while documenting protests.” The suit led to an <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a> by the Portland Police Bureau in July not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work. A judge later expanded the ban to federal officers, who were a heavy presence in the city until Oregon Governor Kate Brown negotiated a phased withdrawal with the Trump administration in late July. While an appeals court later issued a temporary stay on that order, the federal ban was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-rules-federal-agents-cant-target-journalists-at-portland-protests/\">reinstated</a> in early October.</p><p data-block-key=\"git01\">Below is a roundup of incidents involving journalists in Portland getting tear-gassed, threatened or somehow impeded in their work in the city beginning summer of 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"umip1\">A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press have been assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the nation can be found <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"vrpaf\">June 2020</h4></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5oetu\"><b>June 2, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"25fgi\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/06/02/28499376/live-updates-protesting-the-death-of-george-floyd-in-downtown-portland-night-five\">live blog from Portland Mercury</a>, the city’s alt-weekly, that began around 6 p.m. and closed at 12:15 a.m. with the note “Due to the dangerous situation and loss of control exhibited by the Portland Police, we have pulled our reporters off the street for the night. It’s simply too dangerous for them to be out there right now. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and update you tomorrow,” several journalists were struck with tear gas while covering protests, including the Mercury’s two on-the-ground reporters that evening, <b>Alex Zielinski</b> and <b>Blair Stenvick</b>. Both <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1268034020035592192\">Zielinski</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BlairStenvick/status/1268035305644257280\">Stenvick</a> confirmed the gassing on their individual Twitter accounts. Their experience that evening was also <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/woodstock_portland_aclu_or_06282020.pdf\">cited</a> in a <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/aclu-of-oregon-files-class-action-lawsuit-against-portland-police-city/283-e23931b9-4987-4307-bf6b-a1ceb0a9e6bb\">lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon</a>, which stated: “Ms. Zielinski was in the middle of the crowd, while Stenvick was towards the back. Neither was near the fence surrounding the Justice Center. [...] The police issued a warning to protesters to stay away from the fence. To underscore the point, officers on the other side of the fence shot tear gas at protesters near the fence. Had officers merely shot gas at protesters closest to the fence, the reporters might not have been injured. However, the police had decided to create a gas trap by shooting tear gas from the rear and sides of the crowd as well. This gas trap, by design, snared not only protesters agitating near the fence, but many other peaceful protesters far from the fence with no desire to get involved. And, of course, it also caught all three reporters, as well as Plaintiff [Kat] Mahoney. Because they had been inundated with tear gas, neither Ms. Zielinski nor Stenvick was able to report on the protests for the rest of the night.” A <b>freelance photojournalist</b> and one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU’s suit, stated in a declaration: “On June 2, I was reporting on the protests when the police used tear gas in the area near me. My throat locked up and I became unable to see. I needed assistance to leave the area and immediately sought medical attention.” The journalist requested anonymity for their safety and privacy.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tear gassed. <a href=\"https://t.co/vAkqCR8lvb\">pic.twitter.com/vAkqCR8lvb</a></p>— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1268034020035592192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tear gas hurts a lot but fades quickly <a href=\"https://t.co/h1YlKEPaFf\">pic.twitter.com/h1YlKEPaFf</a></p>— Blair Stenvick (@BlairStenvick) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BlairStenvick/status/1268035305644257280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 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=\"1shzy\"><b>June 5, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"lkc4k\"><b>Bea Lake</b>, a stringer for iHeartRadio, was nearly rammed by a red pickup truck that drove through a crowd of protesters around 1:30 a.m. When the stringer, who has asked to remain anonymous, tried to capture the truck’s license plate, police threatened her with crowd-control weapons, according to the ACLU’s class-action <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/woodstock_portland_aclu_or_06282020.pdf\">lawsuit</a>. Portland-based journalist Robert Evans, a reporter for investigative news site Bellingcat and host of a podcast for iHeartMedia, told the Tracker that the stringer was marked as press, but he didn’t know whether she was targeted for being a journalist because it was dark. “I can’t know if the people who targeted her did so because they thought she was press or because they thought she was a protester, but she felt targeted by the person in the vehicle certainly,” said Evans, who wasn’t with her at the time of the incident. The truck and its driver haven’t been identified.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last night a member of my crew was almost rammed by a red truck (newish, likely Ford) with an American flag flying from each end of the back. The police aimed their guns at her when she tried to get its plate #.<br><br>If any member of the crowd filmed this, please let me know.</p>— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1269399061775306752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"y3bsu\"><b>June 7, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"8lt1y\">Sometime after midnight, photojournalist <b>Alex Milan Tracy</b> was threatened with arrest while filming the arrest of two people after a protest at Chapman Square downtown had been broken up. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlexMilanTracy/status/1269577129265524736\">video</a> captured and tweeted by Tracy, he can be heard clearly stating that he is press and that he is retreating from the area. “Despite being a good distance away, the police threatened to arrest me simply for filming them,” Tracy said in a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-06-30_-_tracy_decl_0.pdf\">declaration</a> for the ACLU lawsuit that led to the PPB’s <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a> not to arrest or harm journalists or legal observers. “I immediately held up my credentials and one of my two cameras clearly stating that I was press as I moved back and complied with their orders.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">An officer shouts "You were standing taking photos..." as two people hiding behind a car are arrested. Another officer threatens me with arrest as I clearly state I am press as I move back and comply with orders. <a href=\"https://t.co/fwTStAsceO\">pic.twitter.com/fwTStAsceO</a></p>— Alex Milan Tracy (@AlexMilanTracy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlexMilanTracy/status/1269577129265524736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 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=\"pbvij\"><b>June 16, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"pdwti\">Oregon Public Broadcasting journalists <b>Sergio Olmos</b> and <b>Jonathan Levinson</b> were threatened with arrest while covering police dispersing a protest outside the Multnomah County Justice Center that had been declared an unlawful assembly. They were filming a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1272792445265178624\">small group</a> of protesters being herded down a street by police when an officer told them they had to leave the area even if they had press credentials. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1272796206071087105\">video</a> posted on Twitter by Olmos, when Levinson responds, “We’re moving,” the officer says, “You’ve been given warnings, so if you don’t move faster, you’re gonna go to jail.” Soon after, the police prevented Levinson from recording or reporting on an arrest, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/woodstock_portland_aclu_or_06282020.pdf\">declaration</a> he provided for the ACLU lawsuit against the PPB.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portland police officer “your asked to disperse, wearing the press does not give you the right to be here”<br><br>Reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_jlevinson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@_jlevinson</a>: “we’re moving”<br><br>Police: “you’ve been given warnings, so if you don’t move faster your gonna go to jail”<br><br>“So you want us to run?”<br><br> “yes I do” <a href=\"https://t.co/I9zrFRnwhf\">pic.twitter.com/I9zrFRnwhf</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1272796206071087105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"hwd81\"><b>Tracy</b> was also threatened with arrest while filming the same arrest that Levinson was prevented from covering. In his own <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-06-30_-_tracy_decl_0.pdf\">declaration</a> for the ACLU lawsuit against the PPB, Tracy said he was threatened by an officer he identified as Ken Le “after a few officers charged ahead out of formation to make arrests” in the early hours of the day. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlexMilanTracy/status/1272805156225048578\">video</a> captured and tweeted by Tracy, the officer can be heard saying, “Get out of here now or you’re going to go to jail, you understand? I don’t care if you’re press.” After some additional back-and-forth, Tracy can be heard saying, “Please threaten me one more time. I’m sure the ACLU would love to see this,” before complying and backing away. When asked about the incident, Sergeant Kevin Allen of the PPB told the Tracker that “there is an active civil lawsuit, so I cannot comment on any action involving journalists.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A few officers sprint forward to make an arrest and as I document I am threatened with arrest. <a href=\"https://t.co/nVRcwvEmXi\">pic.twitter.com/nVRcwvEmXi</a></p>— Alex Milan Tracy (@AlexMilanTracy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlexMilanTracy/status/1272805156225048578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"rz93x\">July 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"zses0\"><b>July 18, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"4dg3g\">Federal law enforcement officers fired tear gas and flash-bangs toward independent videojournalist <b>Mason Lake</b>. At around 2:30 a.m., Lake was standing with a group of other journalists he didn’t know at Southwest Madison Street between Southwest Third and Fourth avenues downtown, across from the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center. A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BoopTroopEugene/status/1284607393884565506\">video</a> of the incident shows journalists, including Lake, standing and filming while tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades land on the street. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1284644072854962177\">Another video</a>, posted by Lake on Twitter, shows a group of federal officers turning onto Southwest Madison Street from Southwest Third Avenue as protesters hurry away from them. Then, flash-bang grenades go off and tear gas spreads on the street. Lake said he felt targeted by the officers because he was clearly marked as a member of the press, with the word “press” also written on his helmet, and was at the front of the demonstration with no protesters close to him. “They were attacking press pretty openly,” he said.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I got LIT UP last night! New riot gear paid for itself already. The feds were ABSOLUTELY targeting media & press. <br>I was not the only one. Let me tell you something, nothing turns your blue pants brown like militarized police pointing at you!!! <br>😳😳😳 <a href=\"https://t.co/PEYLIMdDOd\">pic.twitter.com/PEYLIMdDOd</a></p>— Mason Lake Media (@MasonLakePhoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1284644072854962177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"tspkh\"><b>Olmos</b> said he was unlawfully ordered to disperse by police who were breaking up a protest that began at the Justice Center, despite the PPB <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreeing</a> in the ACLU lawsuit not to impede journalists from covering demonstrations. At 2:38 a.m., Olmos <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1284422362868285442\">tweeted</a> that an “officer told me to ‘go home’ another said ‘get the fuck out’, I pointed to my credentials and said ‘press’, the officer said ‘I don’t care.’ But they drove off without saying anything else.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A PBB officer told me to “go home” another said “get the fuck out”, I pointed to my credentials and said “press”, the officer said “I don’t care.” But they drove off without saying anything else.</p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1284422362868285442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"ce7j5\">Journalists <b>Griffin Malone</b> and <b>Cory Elia</b> were threatened by a PPB officer while filming an arrest that night. Elia, an editor at Village Portland and host of a KBOO podcast, told the Tracker that he and about a dozen other legal observers and reporters were following a police line from at least 20 feet behind as they dispersed protesters west and north from Southwest Salmon Street and Southwest Third Avenue, a block from the Justice Center. As the officers reached the north side of Pioneer Square, an officer approached the press, raised his pepper spray can and ordered them not to follow or approach. “These threats by him triggered a response from a few people in that group, including myself, to say that we were not a threat to them and just observing,” Elia said. Malone, a freelance journalist, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1284430958142210147\">tweeted</a> about the incident at 3:12 a.m., saying, “Officers shove protester who’s trying to leave. Then threatened<a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia\"> @TheRealCoryElia</a>, me, and 10+ other legal observers / press for filming.” The accompanying video shows a PPB officer pushing a protester. Someone off camera says, “Don’t hit him, don’t you hit him. Don’t you fucking hit him.” After an officer turns around and says, “Stay off my line,” the person off camera responds, “Yeah, we’ll stay off your line if you don’t fucking hit him.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Officers shove protestor who's trying to leave. Then threatened <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheRealCoryElia</a>, me, and 10+ other legal observers / press for filming <a href=\"https://t.co/ME3vKMcyp2\">pic.twitter.com/ME3vKMcyp2</a></p>— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1284430958142210147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"408xt\">Shortly after that incident, <b>Malone</b> was separated from the group. As he attempted to catch up, an officer approached him. “I yelled ‘Press!’ and he yelled ‘Nope!’ and then something else, and he just started running at me,” Malone told the Tracker, adding that he ran half a block around a corner to get away. He <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1284431942075600896\">tweeted</a> about the incident at 3:16 a.m., saying, “Pretty sure this isn’t legal.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got lost from the rest of press group officer ran up to me, I yelled press and he yelled "nope" and started running at me. Pretty sure this isn't legal.</p>— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1284431942075600896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 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=\"qqsag\"><b>July 22, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"bblt1\">Independent journalist <b>Teebs Auberdine</b> said she was sprayed at least three times with a chemical irritant sprayed by federal agents. Auberdine, a freelance video journalist who streams footage of protests, was covering a protest outside the federal courthouse downtown. “They were macing people or pepper spraying people through the fence at the front line fairly targeted, relatively short range,” she told the Tracker. Auberdine went to a medical tent and got wipes to get rid of the pepper spray, but she said that the combination of three rounds of pepper spray and wipes had created a sticky residue, covering their clothes and skin. She was also unable to operate a phone or gimbal device, a stabilizing stick used in video recording.</li></ul></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 coated in mace by the feds three times to the point I had to leave cause everything about me was sticky. I *just* did laundry today too...<br><br>Any tips on things I can do or buy to increase the number of macings before I need to leave and shower??</p>— Teebs (@TeebsGaming) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1286224046586175493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 23, 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=\"h12uj\"><b>July 26, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"mseo2\"><b>Olmos</b> posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1287304522553950208\">footage</a> on Twitter of protests outside the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse and Multnomah County Justice Center downtown. In the clip federal officers can be seen attempting to disperse the crowd. One directly addresses Olmos and tells him to “get the fuck out of here,” in violation of the <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">TRO</a>.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Federal officer drags protester to the floor, pushes journalist, and says “get the the fuck out of here” to press <a href=\"https://t.co/P6m9SCjERs\">pic.twitter.com/P6m9SCjERs</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1287304522553950208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"3kg61\"><b>July 30, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"45ekz\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1288797766001385472\">footage posted</a> by independent photojournalist Mathieu Lewis-Rolland, a line of federal officers can be seen in a line with a group of protesters and clearly marked members of the press. Lewis-Rolland captioned the footage, in part, “Feds ambush and assault press.” At the beginning of the clip, a loud bang can be heard as the frame turns toward the back of the crowd. Approximately seven seconds into the footage, an officer can be seen deploying pepper spray into the crowd, distinguished by its red-orange hue, and the group — including what appears to have been at least half-a-dozen individuals wearing “PRESS” markings — retreats from the line of officers.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Feds ambush and assault press; Mace and arrest protester who is on their knees w hands in the air. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AthulKAcharya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AthulKAcharya</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACLU_OR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ACLU_OR</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DontShootPdx?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DontShootPdx</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/5d9eem84q9\">pic.twitter.com/5d9eem84q9</a></p>— Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1288797766001385472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"jxod7\">August 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"an6y8\"><b>Aug. 1, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"n67yd\">Portland-based independent journalist <b>Garrison Davis</b> was covering the dispersal of a protest from the Penumbra Kelly Building on East Burnside Street after an unlawful assembly <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289788967060004865\">was declared</a>. Continuing to film as police pressured the crowd through residential streets, Davis’ camera goes askew as an officer grabs his arm. “As I’m walking on the sidewalk, holding my press pass, an officer grabs my arm. I decide to run,” Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289798246617948162\">tweeted</a> at 10:40 p.m. After the camera stabilizes, he can be heard yelling, “Press! Federal injunction!” Shortly after, when the police form a riot line, one of them yells at Davis, “Keep moving!” In a video he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289803452084654081\">tweeted</a>, Davis can be heard citing the <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a> that resulted from the ACLU lawsuit and eventually led to the PPB agreement not to harm or impede journalists.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The police form a riot line, they tell press to leave the area, we were on the sidewalk. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/acab?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#acab</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandStrong</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ixMA27i7k1\">pic.twitter.com/ixMA27i7k1</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289803452084654081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"jztp9\">A little later that evening, an officer approached <b>Davis</b> and <b>Evans</b>. “If you get any closer than this, I’m going to pepper-spray you,” the officer can be heard saying in a video that Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289806231914205186\">tweeted</a> at 11:12 p.m. He then instructed Davis and Evans not to come up behind the officers as the police line advanced. “They walked up behind us and said if you approach police you’re going to be sprayed,” Davis told the Tracker. Minutes later, Davis and Evans witnessed journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-and-maced-police-officers-during-portland-protest/\">Jake Johnson</a> get shoved and maced by police.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A cop walks up close to me and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@IwriteOK</a> and threatens us with pepper spray. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/acab?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#acab</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandStrong</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/gFabrZ9bAL\">pic.twitter.com/gFabrZ9bAL</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1289806231914205186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 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=\"q4nw9\"><b>Aug. 5, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"ovbxc\"><b>Davis</b> and <b>Evans</b> said they were unlawfully ordered by police to disperse following a protest at the East Precinct that was declared an unlawful assembly, despite the PPB <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a>. Davis told the Tracker that after the police dispersed the protesters, they “held the line” in a residential street with no sidewalk and told the press to get off the street. In a video <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1291253340765138944\">tweeted</a> by Evans around 11 p.m., he can be heard referring to the <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, saying, “The TRO does not give you the right to disperse us from the street, sir.” In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1291259492231913473\">footage</a> that Evans captured a moment earlier, an officer can be heard saying, “It’s not a dispersal because it’s closed.” In the accompanying tweet, Evans says, “Here we see, from a bit earlier, how the police tried to justify their illegal dispersal. They claim it is NOT a dispersal, but a road closure. So they can legally force journalists off. I do not think this would hold up in court. Which is probably why they left.” Davis told the Tracker that a resident told the press and protesters to stay off his lawn, adding that the police were laughing “because they’re telling people to stay on the lawn, but they’re also saying if you go on the lawn you’ll be arrested.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here we see, from a bit earlier, how the police tried to justify their illegal dispersal. They claim it is NOT a dispersal, but a road closure. So they can legally force journalists off.<br><br>I do not think this would hold up in court. Which is probably why they left. <a href=\"https://t.co/7kLa5BnhUY\">pic.twitter.com/7kLa5BnhUY</a></p>— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1291259492231913473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 6, 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=\"t2mh4\"><b>Aug. 6, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"i27bl\">Freelance journalist <b>Laura Jedeed</b>, a contributor to Willamette Week and Portland Monthly, said Portland police threatened to arrest her and other journalists while she was covering the same protest as <b>Davis</b> and <b>Evans</b> at the East Precinct. After the police fired tear gas at demonstrators outside the center shortly after midnight, protesters moved a few blocks away, Jedeed told the Tracker. She said that at around 12:40 a.m., the police “pulled up in a riot van and pointed at everybody and said, ‘You’re all under arrest.’” However, nobody was arrested, and the police soon drove away, said Jedeed, who <a href=\"https://twitter.com/1misanthrophile/status/1291278892385230849\">tweeted</a> about the incident.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A cop tells us we're all under arrest<br><br>Then the line loads up on their riot van and leaves<br><br>I live in a Tom and Jerry cartoon</p>— Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/1misanthrophile/status/1291278892385230849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 6, 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=\"kx9bg\"><b>Aug. 7, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"wec6k\">The Portland police announced just after midnight on Aug. 6 that they were closing off a quarter-mile stretch of Southeast 106th Avenue, stretching between Southeast Washington Street and Southeast Cherry Blossom Drive, including to members of the press. The announcement, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1291639464486252544\">tweeted</a> by the PPB at 12:37 a.m., said, “Any persons including members of the press who violate this order will be subject to arrest.” It cited the city of Portland Code 14C.30.010, “Authority to Restrict Access to Certain Areas.” But the code also states that “in consideration of the law enforcement and emergency services needs involved, provision shall be made for reasonable access to such areas by members of the media for the purpose of news gathering and reporting.” In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1291639501790445569\">video</a> from the area posted by <b>Malone</b> on Twitter at the same time, the announcement could be heard. “Is this legal?” he asks in the tweet.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Anyone who doesn't leave the area is subject to arrest "to reiterate this order applies to the press"<br><br>Is this legal? <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AthulKAcharya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AthulKAcharya</a>? <a href=\"https://t.co/BZ7rwjN5fT\">pic.twitter.com/BZ7rwjN5fT</a></p>— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1291639501790445569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 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=\"ys6uk\"><b>Aug. 9, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"i5svb\">Independent photojournalist Mathieu Lewis-Rolland was blocked by police from covering a protest, in violation of the court order, and threatened with arrest. Video reviewed by the Tracker shows an officer stopping Lewis-Rowland and telling him that he could not proceed up a street because a riot had been declared. Referencing the court order, Lewis-Rolland responds that police cannot order journalists to disperse, but the officer continues to threaten him with arrest if he continues. “I don’t care if you’re wearing ‘press’ on your helmet or not, you are not allowed to go down there,” the officer says. “If you do go down there you will be subject to arrest.” When Lewis-Rolland says that the threat violates Judge Michael Simon’s order, the officer responds that Lewis-Rolland is subject to the same laws as everyone else.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gi5el\"><b>Aug. 12, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"mns98\">Freelance journalist <b>Alissa Azar</b> said she was maced while covering a protest downtown near the Multnomah County Justice Center and the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse. “Just got maced,” Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1293804848907825152\">posted on Twitter</a> just past midnight. About an hour later, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1293999365061668864\">she tweeted</a> that her face still burned from the mace. While Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1293823543650611201\">wrote</a> that she wasn’t sure who was responsible for the macing, another journalist who goes by the name India H. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/udaniyadv/status/1293934349360873473\">tweeted</a> that a protester maced them. “It was a protestor who was macing the cops. We got caught in it,” India H. said in the post. Azar didn’t respond to the Tracker’s inquiries for more information on this incident.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"ua5nm\"><b>Aug. 14, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"eiuze\">Portland-based freelance journalist <b>Suzette Smith</b> said she was blocked by police from covering a protest, despite the PPB <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a>. Smith, a former editor for the Portland Mercury, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1294495554227941376\">tweeted</a> around 9:45 p.m.: “Just tried to walk up to the group of protesters and a police officer blocked me from covering, saying ‘M’am, I’m not having this conversation. For the last eight weeks I’ve had press throwing things at me and calling me names. So you will have to go around the block.’” Smith continued to cover the demonstrations throughout the night and into the next morning, documenting protesters as they moved through North Portland and the police declared an unlawful assembly. Around 10:20 p.m., she tweeted, “This press person was just hit with a potato, thrown by protesters,” sharing the image of a broken potato. Half an hour later, she posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1294511501382782977\">video</a> of police officers telling journalists to “back up” at least five feet as they arrested someone. “With the PPB having just said they’ll observe the TRO, press are allowed to observe this arrest until one officer tells the other to keep them back,” she wrote in the tweet, referring to the <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a> that resulted from the ACLU suit.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just tried to walk up to the group of protesters and a police officer blocked me from covering, saying “M’am, I’m not having this conversation. For the last eight weeks I’ve had press throwing things at me and calling me names. So you will have to go around the block.”</p>— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1294495554227941376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"mdozo\"><b>Aug. 15, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"blrdq\">A Portland-area photo and video journalist who works under the name <b>Daniel V. Media</b> filmed police officers pushing journalists covering the protests and telling them to get back. Around 8:40 a.m. the next morning, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/danielvmedia/status/1295022750197616640\">posted</a> some of the footage in a tweet that read: “Portland police tell press that talking to officers is illegally engaging them. They shove press for not being on the sidewalk even though they were, they then tell them to ‘be press’ on a different sidewalk. They assaulted legal observers and press following orders all night.” The accompanying clip shows officers pushing journalists on two separate occasions.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portland police tell press that talking to officers is illegally engaging them. They shove press for not being on the sidewalk even though they were, they then tell them to "be press" on a different sidewalk. They assaulted legal observers and press following orders all night. <a href=\"https://t.co/lDHNxvVMIw\">pic.twitter.com/lDHNxvVMIw</a></p>— Daniel V. Media (@danielvmedia) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/danielvmedia/status/1295022750197616640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"0ty3t\">Freelance journalist <b>Justin Yau</b>, a student at the University of Portland whose work has been featured by the Daily Mail and The New York Times, said he was maced by police officers while covering a protest in North Portland. Yau told the Tracker he was on a block near Rosa Parks Way in a neighborhood where the streets extend into bridges across the freeway. The crowd bottlenecked as police funneled them onto the bridge. An individual started yelling at police, telling them that if they kept pushing people might fall off the bridge. Officers then sprayed the man with mace, catching Yau in the crossfire. “I was maybe two people behind [the man] and they got me on the left side of my face pretty good,” Yau said. Yau told the Tracker he refused to stop reporting that night, saying, “I felt like if I did that they would win.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ks5eg\"><b>Aug. 18, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"vx9p0\">Independent journalist <b>Cata Gaitán</b> was covering a protest at the Multnomah County Building. After protesters threw rocks into the building and started a fire in one of the offices, the Portland police declared a riot and began clearing protesters from the area. Around 11:05 p.m., Gaitán <a href=\"https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1295965510752821253\">posted</a> footage on Twitter of what she described as “Getting chased by Portland police.” Later that night, she posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1295998131943825413\">video</a> of police officers threatening to arrest her if she doesn’t get on the sidewalk. An officer can be heard saying to Gaitán, “If you’re in the street again, you will go to jail. Period.” In the accompanying text, she wrote: “A different officer pulls on my left arm as I walk forward, then says: ‘Stay on the sidewalk.’”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“If you’re in the street again, you’re going to jail. Period,” one officer says as a chase ends and I get back onto the sidewalk. <br><br>A different officer pulls on my left arm as I walk forward, then says: “Stay on the sidewalk.” <a href=\"https://t.co/xoxOmx1nKG\">pic.twitter.com/xoxOmx1nKG</a></p>— Cata Gaitán (@catalinagaitan_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/catalinagaitan_/status/1295998131943825413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 19, 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=\"qj0ah\"><b>Aug. 19, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"5ebw8\"><b>Evans</b> was covering a protest that began near the South Waterfront, where Portland police and what he believed to be Special Response Team officers were dispersing protesters from an ICE facility. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1296329744435130368\">video</a> Evans posted on Twitter at 11:14 p.m., an announcement can be heard that a riot had been declared and that press would have to leave along with the protesters. After briefly leaving the area, the protesters marched back, and another riot was declared. Evans <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1296340132081983488\">tweeted</a> audio of the announcement: “Failure to comply with this order may subject you to citation or arrest, and may subject you to the use of tear gas, crowd control agents and/or impact weapons.” In the post, he said that ordering press to disperse is “a violation of the Federal Restraining Order.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Portland Police have declared a riot. They are warning "media and press" that they are ordered to disperse. This is a violation of the Federal Restraining Order. <a href=\"https://t.co/BYVLPjrMtu\">pic.twitter.com/BYVLPjrMtu</a></p>— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1296340132081983488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 20, 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=\"axq03\"><b>Aug. 22, 2020 - Aug. 23, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"1ono5\"><b>Brendan Gutenschwager</b>, an independent videographer, was covering afternoon clashes downtown between right-wing groups including the Proud Boys and counterprotesters who support the Black Lives Matter movement. As the confrontation outside the Multnomah County Justice Center turned violent, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297269571380862976\">documented</a> on Twitter the two sides throwing smoke bombs and spraying each other with mace and pepper spray. “I’ve never had so much mace in my eyes in my life. Rough afternoon in Portland,” Gutenschwager <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297274211119984640\">tweeted a</a>round 1:45 p.m. “My face burns. I think I prefer the tear gas,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297282957174910976\">continued</a> about 40 minutes later, adding in another <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297283664259084288\">post</a> that his clothes “got splattered with paint.”</li><li data-block-key=\"iu9w5\">Later that evening, Gutenschwager was filming again as BLM protesters converged on the Penumbra Kelly Building in southeast Portland. A little after midnight, police declared a riot and started clearing the area. Around 1 a.m., he posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297080844813766656\">footage</a> showing his camera going askew as he was briefly knocked down, injuring his hand, during a confrontation between protesters and police. Then, around 1:25 a.m., he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297449336901574658\">tweeted</a>: “Police make another arrest, then run up on press trying to film.” In the accompanying footage, an officer can be seen running at someone in a vest marked “press” and aming a pepper spray canister at him, saying, “Get out of the street.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police make another arrest, then run up on press trying to film <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandRiots?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandRiots</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/bFMiX6L3cK\">pic.twitter.com/bFMiX6L3cK</a></p>— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1297449336901574658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 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=\"qqv5w\"><b>Aug. 25, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"yl3l4\">Portland journalist <b>Sarah Jeong</b>, an opinion writer for the New York Times and columnist for the Verge, said a flash-bang grenade was thrown toward her while she was covering a protest. At around 11:24 p.m., Jeong was standing to the side of a crowd of 20 to 40 people a couple blocks away from City Hall watching PPB officers slash the tires of a parked car that had protesters inside, she told the Tracker, adding, “Nothing had been happening to warrant use of crowd control.” Out of the corner of her eye, Jeong saw an officer crouch and throw a flash-bang grenade in her direction just as a protester also sprinted in her way. “The flash-bang ended up exploding right around my feet. I jumped to the side,” she said. “I wear sturdy leather boots when I’m out, but I could still feel the heat around my ankles,” Jeong said, noting that it was possible that the protester had taunted the officer and then run in her direction, but she wasn’t standing in a crowd when the flash-bang grenade went off. However, she doesn’t believe she was targeted for being press in this instance. Later that night, Jeong heard a PPB officer, while dispersing the crowd, tell a group that it didn’t matter if they were press, that they still had to leave the area, despite the injunction. “Really, the entire night was one long sustained incident of suppression of press,” Jeong said.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"zfjc0\">September 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"m2cts\"><b>Sept. 5, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"gqo05\"><b>Davis</b> was covering law enforcement officers disperse a crowd of protesters that had intended to march to the East Precinct. The police announced that the demonstration wouldn’t be able to proceed, Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1302459229815500800\">tweeted</a> shortly after 9 p.m., and a riot was soon <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1302464651121233921\">declared</a>. As police were trying to clear protesters from a street near Ventura Park a couple of hours later, a smoke grenade landed within a group of fellow journalists where Davis was filming. He <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1302493754603913216\">tweeted</a> a video of the incident around 11:30 p.m., though it’s unclear who threw the grenade or whether the press was being targeted due to the amount of smoke. Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1302494771768774656\">reported</a> that there was a mix of PPB and Oregon State Troopers dispersing the crowd.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Back by the park more teargas being used, smoke grenade lands right in a group of press. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdxprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdxprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portlandpolice?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portlandpolice</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/wmkecM5f8g\">pic.twitter.com/wmkecM5f8g</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1302493754603913216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 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=\"n3hr5\"><b>Sept. 6, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"9fuuj\">In the early morning hours, independent journalist <b>Jake</b> <b>Johnson</b> was harassed by police officers and threatened with arrest as he tried to comply with their orders to quickly disperse, having been hampered by a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-and-maced-police-officers-during-portland-protest/\">previous injury</a> incurred when an officer shoved him onto the hood of a car. Johnson told the Tracker that protesters were demonstrating in the southwest corner of Ventura Park when police formed a line and told everyone to disperse to the northeast. Johnson stayed to film arrests, but police officers ordered him to quickly leave the area, despite the PPB <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a>. “I’m pretty clearly labeled and in a well-lit area,” said Johnson, who wears a neon reflective vest labeled “press” in addition to a helmet labeled “press” on five sides. Footage Johnson<a href=\"https://twitter.com/FancyJenkins/status/1302521500105236480\"> posted</a> on Twitter shows police officers ordering him repeatedly to disperse more quickly. “If I catch you, you’re going to jail,” says one officer. In the interview, Johnson called the PPB’s decision to pursue press and protesters through dark sections of the park a “scandalous trap.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here I am getting menaced by the cops for doing what they told me to do. <a href=\"https://t.co/Vpwm04hCyz\">pic.twitter.com/Vpwm04hCyz</a></p>— Jake “wear a mask” Johnson (@FancyJenkins) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FancyJenkins/status/1302521500105236480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 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=\"c9gbb\"><b>Sept. 23, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"zadyl\"><b>Davis</b> was covering protests that <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/09/portland-protest-grows-downtown-on-eve-of-breonna-taylor-grand-jury-decision.html\">broke out in Portland</a> after a Kentucky grand jury decided to indict only one officer in the March shooting death of Breonna Taylor for wanton endangerment, while no officers faced charges for the killing itself. After a demonstration outside the Multnomah County Justice Center was declared a riot, both the Portland police and federal agents emerged to disperse the crowds. When PPB officers were getting ready to depart on the side of police vans, they ordered Davis and several other journalists present to disperse as well, despite the PPB <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreeing</a> in the ACLU lawsuit not to impede journalists. Around midnight, Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1309025937179242498\">tweeted</a> a video of PPB officers telling the press to move back 30 feet from their vehicle. “We are on the sidewalk against a building,” Davis said in the accompanying caption. “Do you see 30 feet of room here for us to go?” asks someone off camera. “Then go somewhere else. Use your brain,” an officer says.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cops tell multiple people marked press to move back “30 feet.” <br><br>We are on the sidewalk against a building. Also police cannot disperse press due to the federal TRO that is still in effect for PPB. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDX</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/TrTR3ZAS6U\">pic.twitter.com/TrTR3ZAS6U</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1309025937179242498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 24, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"holqw\">October 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"jiz9r\"><b>Oct. 11, 2020</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"yhkid\">Freelance journalist Jedeed posted that she was threatened by a man with an assault rifle during a pro-police, pro-Trump rally in downtown Portland, on Southwest Alder Steet and Southwest 3rd Avenue. Video <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1315421716252782592\">published on Twitter by Jedeed</a>, where she also shows the press pass she was wearing, shows a man with a rifle carrying a Trump flag telling Jedeed to “get the fuck back” as she films him and other rally-goers. When Jedeed continues to follow and film, the man yells obscenities again at Jedeed.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It looks like the far-right portion of today is over, at least<br><br>I'm not a big selfie person: not my style. But I'm posting this one so you can see exactly what I looked like when I was threatened<br><br>I am not in bloc. I am wearing a press pass <a href=\"https://t.co/ub2em1TSVH\">pic.twitter.com/ub2em1TSVH</a></p>— Laura Jedeed, Professional Stocker (@LauraJedeed) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1315430097231310848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 11, 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=\"16s3n\"><i>Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category,</i> <i>go</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter&categories=Other+Incident&endpage=2\"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vdob1\">While documenting July 18, 2020, protests in Portland, Oregon, videographer Mason Lake said federal law enforcement officers were aiming for the press. “They threw tear gas canisters and flash bangs right at us,” he said.</p>",
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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist hit with projectiles, arrested while documenting protests in Worcester, Mass.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-hit-projectiles-arrested-while-documenting-protests-worcester-mass/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-29T15:22:33.141668Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:32:53.139544Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:32:52.985224Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"city": "Worcester",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8c869\">Freelance photojournalist Richard Cummings was arrested and charged with failure to disperse and other charges while documenting a protest against police violence in Worcester, Massachusetts, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"eyeka\">Cummings told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he went to the protest that day to photograph from a distance, but added he didn’t stay long before heading for the Main South neighborhood to continue work on a long-term documentary project on the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"lwpri\">Cummings said that at around 9:30 p.m. he noticed an escalated police presence, with officers from the Worcester Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and the Clark University Police blocking roads and offloading vans filled with officers in riot gear.</p><p data-block-key=\"gigv4\">Cummings said he heard the officers screaming, as if “to get pumped up for something.” He added he didn’t understand what was happening, because the protest was elsewhere and he hadn’t seen any escalation there.</p><p data-block-key=\"4l8ja\">The Telegram & Gazette, Worcester’s daily newspaper, <a href=\"https://www.telegram.com/news/20200602/worcester-police-make-arrests-after-protest-in-main-south\">reported</a> that a group of people had gathered in the neighborhood after the peaceful protest in downtown had dispersed. A confrontation reportedly ensued with law enforcement after the group staged a “die-in” in a roadway.</p><p data-block-key=\"9640e\">According to Cummings, the officers moved in formation down Main Street, chanting, “Move back,” and firing tear gas and projectiles as some individuals threw rocks and shot fireworks toward them. He said several people were arrested, many of whom appeared to not have been the ones throwing objects.</p><p data-block-key=\"vqmki\">Cummings said he was struck twice by projectiles fired by police during the melee, once on his left shoulder and once on his right elbow. He told the Tracker he was unsure what type of projectiles they were.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecb4f\">Cummings said he then moved to stand next to a police formation near the intersection of Hammond and Main, figuring it was a safer place to photograph. He said he told an officer that he was a freelance photojournalist and that the officer directed him to stand on the sidewalk, which he did, continuing to document the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkppc\">Another officer, who Cummings said seemed to be in charge at the scene, asked Cummings what he was doing. Cummings said he was told it was all right to be where he was. A <a href=\"https://youtu.be/jRcPjfgLn0g\">recording</a> filmed by Cummings and published by the Telegram & Gazette appears to have captured this interaction.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ec2q\">In the video, an officer can also be heard saying of a protester, “I’m keeping eyes on him. I’d love to hit him with a pepper gun.”</p><p data-block-key=\"51wpj\">About 15 to 20 minutes later, Cummings said, he was suddenly grabbed by an unknown number of officers, who bent him over a brick wall with his arms behind his back. Cummings said an officer screamed he was going to break Cummings’ arms and called him a homophobic slur.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ymy5\">Cummings told the Tracker that he didn’t resist and pleaded with the officer to not break his camera. While a second officer took his camera, Cummings said, the officer who pinned and screamed at Cummings seized his cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"q70ls\">Both the Worcester Police Department and the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"f157g\">Cummings said he was then escorted to a police van, where he said he began to have a panic attack, in part due to the impact of exposure to pepper spray or tear gas and in part due to fear of contracting coronavirus in a confined space. He also said the metal handcuffs cut into his wrists.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bgl7\">“It was hell, pretty much for taking pictures on the sidewalk,” Cummings said. “I wasn’t being rude to any cops. I wasn’t yelling at any cops. I went there ... I didn’t show any side. I was just documenting it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"91b50\">Cummings was one of nearly 20 people arrested that night on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and failure to disperse during a riot, the Telegram & Gazette <a href=\"https://www.telegram.com/news/20200821/lawyer-wants-charges-against-worcester-protesters-dismissed\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mduv\">Cummings told the Tracker that, on his release early the next morning, he noticed that videos on his phone appeared to have been deleted. He said that his phone didn’t have password protection, so its data would have been accessible. Cummings said that he was unable to recover any of the deleted footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"0daev\">Cummings’ legal team, who are representing multiple people arrested that night, said the phones of two other individuals had disappeared or been destroyed, the Telegram & Gazette <a href=\"https://www.telegram.com/news/20200630/two-arrested-at-june-1-protest-allege-police-improperly-seized-phones\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"oxn9x\">Cummings pleaded not guilty on Aug. 21, <a href=\"https://www.telegram.com/news/20200821/lawyer-wants-charges-against-worcester-protesters-dismissed\">according to</a> the Telegram & Gazette. A Worcester County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson told the Tracker that his next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 28. If convicted on all charges, Cummings faces up to a year in prison and fines totaling up to $800.</p><p data-block-key=\"32wxu\">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 pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"fx53w\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering demonstrations 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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"name": "Massachusetts",
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"updates": [
"(2021-03-08 12:31:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist still facing charges of failure to disperse after arrest during June protest",
"(2021-03-19 13:31:00+00:00) Final charge against photojournalist dropped based on insufficient evidence",
"(2020-11-20 13:54:00+00:00) Two of three charges against photojournalist arrested at Worcester protest dropped"
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, hit with pepper spray during Washington, D.C., protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-hit-pepper-spray-during-washington-dc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-29T15:05:09.404445Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:57.632912Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:57.552327Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l94rl\">A journalist for the Washington Examiner said police shoved and hit him with pepper spray as he covered protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"vsczy\">Mike Brest, a reporter for the conservative news site and weekly magazine, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following a group of protesters that evening as they marched from the White House down Lafayette Parkway into the northwest section of the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"396ij\">Metropolitan Police officers were enforcing a 7 p.m. curfew. At about 8 p.m., Brest and the group of protesters he followed reached the block of Swann Street between 14th and 15th Streets.</p><p data-block-key=\"cda92\">Police lines formed on both ends of the block, which is lined on both sides by townhouses — a maneuver <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">known as “kettling”</a> in which officers corral protesters and often make mass arrests. Journalists have reported that police in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-news-reporter-says-was-grabbed-shoved-law-enforcement-while-covering-protests-nyc/\">New York City</a>, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-during-downtown-los-angeles-protest/\">Los Angeles,</a> San Francisco and other cities have employed the maneuver.</p><p data-block-key=\"iby8p\">Brest said he was near one of the police lines on Swann Street when he was shoved by an officer and pepper spray was fired at the crowd. He said he was hit by the spray after verbally identifying himself as a journalist and while carrying a bag bearing the word “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l5xkt\">Brest said he was able to keep working after getting sprayed and remained at the scene for several hours more. “It was just hard to see for a short period of time afterwards,” Brest told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"l8rbg\">He said he didn’t believe law-enforcement officials targeted him as a journalist. Approximately 200 protesters had gathered on Swann Street after the curfew, but the scene was peaceful when police mobilized, Brest said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kteu0\">“I didn’t see anything that would have warranted such a reaction,” Brest said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xk02e\">He said he wasn’t sure which law enforcement agency deployed the pepper spray -- some officers at the scene were identifiable as clearly from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, while others were dressed in unmarked camouflage fatigues and riot gear that obscured their faces.</p><p data-block-key=\"up27w\">Brest said he and protesters were kettled so tightly on the Swann Street block that he was concerned about transmission of COVID-19.</p><p data-block-key=\"or2aw\">“It should be noted that there are probably 200 protesters crammed into a half block of a D.C. street and probably another 75 law enforcement [officers] all close together,” Brest <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MikeBrestDC/status/1267631980998524928\">tweeted from the scene</a>. “No social distancing possible.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yay12\">Brest told the Tracker that he and most protesters at the scene wore masks.</p><p data-block-key=\"lcsnq\">“Considering COVID, that seemed like a very dangerous thing for law enforcement to do,” the journalist said. “They held people in this one block radius for between an hour or two hours before any arrests were made.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sqbzg\">Brest said he stayed in the area until around midnight. An officer led Brest to a supervisor who told the journalist he had to leave the area. He was escorted from the scene and wasn’t arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cg5y\">The Metropolitan Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vn173\">Brest and other journalists reported that Rahul Dubey, a 44-year-old homeowner living on the block, opened his doors to offer refuge to protesters crowded in front of his home — a scene that <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/protesters-holed-up-in-northwest-dc-home-overnight-emerge-after-curfew-lifts/2020/06/02/843bbba8-a4d7-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html\">Dubey described as a “human tsunami”</a> to a Washington Post reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"vg1t5\">The DCist reported that Dubey opened his home to at least 50 protesters, who stayed inside until the curfew lifted at 6 a.m. on June 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6r1m\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ui0oe\">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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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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{
"title": "June: While reporting from protests across the nation, journalists tear-gassed, threatened",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/june-1-while-reporting-protests-across-nation-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-14T17:10:33.911820Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:41:53.529067Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:41:53.351003Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"chpy7\"><i>George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. in June 2020.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"03no7\"><i>A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found</i> <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"><i>here</i></a><i>. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/frequently-asked-questions/\"><i>pressfreedomtracker.us</i></a><i>.</i></p><h4 data-block-key=\"4rth8\">June 1, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"ab6jl\"><b>In Columbus, Ohio</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"9yqt8\">WOSU reporter <b>Paige Southwick Pfleger</b> and All Things Considered host <b>Clare Roth</b> were covering the protests in the downtown area when they saw reports on social media of an attack on three journalists from the Lantern, the Ohio State University student newspaper, Pfleger told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. By the time the WOSU reporters arrived at the intersection of North High Street and Lane Avenue at around 10:45 p.m., Pfleger said most of the crowd had dispersed. Pfleger said she saw one individual on the ground being arrested and a group of more than a dozen police officers. As the two journalists reached the intersection, Pfleger said several police officers approached them and told them to leave. Pfleger, who was holding her WOSU media badge in her hand to show the officers, replied that they had a right to be there as members of the media. According to Pfleger, the officer told them, “You have to go one block down. If I have to tell you again I’m going to hose you.” A different officer, who was about a foot away from the journalists, then raised a can of pepper spray at their eye level and told them to leave immediately, Pfleger said. As the women walked away from the scene, Pfleger said, the officer followed them for half a block and continued to threaten them with the pepper spray. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PaigePfleger/status/1267650894335623171\">video Pfleger posted to Twitter</a>, an officer can be seen following them with the pepper spray canister raised in his hand. Pfleger is heard saying, “I’m sorry, what was that threat? We’re members of the media, you have no right, and we’re walking away.” The officer then turned around and left. Roth also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ClareAliceRoth/status/1267651749512241152\">tweeted about the incident</a>. “Being threatened with a tear gas canister is a new one.” WOSU <a href=\"https://radio.wosu.org/post/columbus-police-try-new-tack-protesters-end-night-pepper-spray#stream/0\">published</a> an account of the incident the next day but did not seek an official response from the Columbus Division of Police, according to Pfleger. The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We are on Ohio state’s campus. Despite being members of the media officers threatened to pepper spray us. <a href=\"https://t.co/ATguBBr95s\">pic.twitter.com/ATguBBr95s</a></p>— Paige Southwick Pfleger (@PaigePfleger) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PaigePfleger/status/1267650894335623171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PaigePfleger?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PaigePfleger</a> and I had a similar experience. Being threatened with a tear gas canister is a new one. “If you don’t back up in two seconds, I’m going to spray you.” <a href=\"https://t.co/cl6vUwQ1c9\">https://t.co/cl6vUwQ1c9</a></p>— Clare Roth (@ClareAliceRoth) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ClareAliceRoth/status/1267651749512241152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"u3618\"><b>In Washington, D.C.</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"swu0t\">In what the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/washington-dc-protest-white-house-george-floyd/2020/06/01/6b193d1c-a3c9-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html\">referred to</a> as “a massive show of force,” federal agents used tear gas and rubber bullets early in the evening to clear the way for President Donald Trump to visit a church for a photo op. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-06-01&date_upper=2020-06-01&city=Washington&state=District+of+Columbia&endpage=2\">Multiple journalists</a> reported being assaulted while covering the day’s ongoing protests as well as affected by the chemical irritants.</li><li data-block-key=\"q0fv6\"><b>Nadia Bilbassy-Charters</b>, Al Arabiya TV’s D.C. bureau chief, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nadia_bilbassy/status/1267626193504911360\">tweeted</a> around 9:15 p.m.: “Last scene from the streets of #WashingtonDCProtest outside the #WHITEHOUSE after 10 hours of live coverage, got tear gassed twice, exhausted but left the city in one piece #ICantBreathe #GeorgeFloyd #StJohnsChurch #DCProtests.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last scene from the streets of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WashingtonDCProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WashingtonDCProtest</a> outside the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WHITEHOUSE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WHITEHOUSE</a> after 10 hours of live coverage , got tear gassed twice, exhausted but left the city in one piece <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICantBreathe?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ICantBreathe</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/StJohnsChurch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StJohnsChurch</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/gmaoHRJ7RS\">pic.twitter.com/gmaoHRJ7RS</a></p>— Nadia.Bilbassy-Charters (@nadia_bilbassy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nadia_bilbassy/status/1267626193504911360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"h0ivt\"><b>In Cincinnati, Ohio</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"mh5rd\">Cincinnati police arrested a man after he allegedly pointed a firearm from a car at a <b>media crew and its security guard</b> who’d been covering protests in the city, Lieutenant Steve Saunders, a Cincinnati Police Department spokesperson, told the Tracker. Saunders said that a minor was arrested as well. <a href=\"https://www.fox19.com/2020/06/01/live-updates-protests-continue-monday-crowd-heads-fountain-square/\">Local news reports</a> citing the police said four people in the vehicle were detained. According to court documents, Solomon Zellars, 18, was the arrestee and released on cash bond of $100,000. As of Sept. 11, 2020, he faces charges of carrying concealed weapons and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle. Saunders told the Tracker that police confiscated an AR-15-style rifle with a hundred-round magazine, and the police department’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CincyPD/status/1267636056326840322\">Twitter account shared a photo</a> of the firearm. Saunders told the Tracker the news crew was unaware a weapon had been pointed at them. But the <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/hamiltoncounty/2020/06/03/police-find-ar-15-gun-100-bullet-clip-car-cincinnati-protests/3123012001/\">Cincinnati Enquirer</a>, citing Saunders, reported that the TV crew had informed the police about the incident. The identity of the TV crew is not clear.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"kfkwp\">June 2, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"8l94t\"><b>In Seattle, Washington</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"539ax\">The ACLU announced on June 9 that it had filed an emergency lawsuit against the city on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and several individuals, arguing that “the use of chemical agents and projectiles for crowd control violate the First and Fourth Amendments.” <b>Nathalie Graham</b>, a staff writer at the Stranger, a biweekly alternative newspaper in Seattle, was among the plaintiffs. In her <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/graham-declaration\">declaration</a>, she relayed the following about the events of June 2: “I was working at The Stranger’s office at around 11:30 p.m. The office is on the third floor of a building that has a clear view of the intersection at 11th and Pine in Capitol Hill, which has become a daily protest site. That night, I was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gramsofgnats/status/1268277760192966656\">recording</a> the demonstration from the fire escape. The vast majority of protesters below had been peaceful, although a few individuals had thrown water bottles, rocks, and at one point a traffic cone. Overall, the demonstration did not appear to be dangerous or out-of-control. The police made an announcement that I could not hear over a loudspeaker, and almost immediately afterwards removed their barricade so that officers on bikes could come streaming through into the crowd of protesters. They also started firing tear gas. I was seriously alarmed by the sudden escalation, and quickly retreated back inside my office, where I shut the windows. The ground below was so immersed in gas that I couldn’t see the road. Some of it began to seep in to my office, despite the closed windows, and I began to cough…. Later, while I continued to record events below from the window, the police directed a large spotlight at me. I don’t know whether they knew my building was the Stranger’s offices; this is common knowledge in the neighborhood, but our name is not displayed prominently on the street. Whether or not they knew that I was a journalist, I don’t understand why they fixed their light on me, and it made me nervous. To be honest, I was frightened—it gave me the impression that I was doing something wrong, even though I knew that I wasn’t. Despite my intimidation, I continued to record. Witnessing the aggressive, indiscriminate deployment of chemical agents and flash bang grenades by police at these protests has made me reconsider how I approach my assignments. There is a new element of trepidation, anxiety, and fear to my experience of being a journalist. I am determined to assert my rights and do my job, so I will continue reporting—but I would not be surprised if other journalists felt that their ability report from the ground was significantly impaired by these law enforcement tactics. They are deeply disturbing.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s the entirety of my stream when all hell broke loose last night: <a href=\"https://t.co/KbOCe6L7tE\">https://t.co/KbOCe6L7tE</a></p>— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gramsofgnats/status/1268277760192966656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 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-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS3AA7E.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"569\" alt=\"REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"2oh3z\">Protesters arrive in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, on June 2, 2020.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zoylj\"><b>In Charlotte, North Carolina</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"kvlv6\">When asked about the “direct hit of some tear gas” he took on the night of June 2 while covering protests, <b>Ron Lee</b>, a reporter and videographer for WBTV, a CBS affiliate station based in Charlotte, told the <a href=\"https://www.wect.com/2020/07/17/reporters-covering-protests-tear-gas-rocks-emotions-with-jon-evans-podcast/\">podcast 1on1 with Jon Evans</a>, from sister station WECT, in nearby Wilmington: “It was just one of multiple hits we took while covering uptown protests…. They started off with one of their senior officers there, and I know him very well. He had what’s basically a pepper ball gun. If you’ve ever played paintball with your kid, that’s basically what they use but it’s filled with a cayenne pepper sauce. And that’s specifically to try to deter the instigators, the people who are the leaders of the demonstrations at that point. It’s kind of like a surgical strike. When that failed to disperse the crowd, they started to use items like these—this is an actual flash-bang grenade that I collected at the riot. For folks who can’t see it, it’s a cylindrical object made of metal. Probably about 2 inches high, about 3 inches deep. What this does, if you can imagine, it’s like an extremely loud firework…. These things will go off very close to crowds, which will do a very good job of dispersal. I’ve been in the business for 33 years, talked to riot police in multiple markets. The last thing they want to do is use gas, which comes in a canister like this. I also collected this at the riot scene. Gas is an uncontrollable beast. What I mean by that is that once deployed, you have no idea where the gas goes. You have no control over it. In a metropolitan area like Charlotte, the wind switches direction, gets in between those buildings, the gas could very easily come back on police officers, which many times it did. It also came back on the media. We took several hits, and I can tell you from first-hand experience, it is a very good deterrent to get you out of a particular situation…. We knew what it was immediately. There’s no question what it is. The problem is that when it’s deployed, it affects your eyesight first. It’s like this burning sensation, and then the optics around your eye start to burn uncontrollably, and then you inhale the gas. Well, your lungs immediately want to purge the gas from your system, so you start coughing. But when you cough, you’ve got to bring in a deeper breath, so that makes it much worse…. There was a crew next to me from a competing station, and they took it very hard. Both the photographer as well as the reporter were on all fours, almost vomiting, it was so bad. They actually had to have a person who referred to themselves as a ‘riot medic,’ who was actually part of the demonstration, come up and administer aid, give them some water, try to wipe the cayenne pepper sauce out of their eyes.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video posted online moments after we were hit with gas covering the demonstrators tonight. <a href=\"https://t.co/7fOGzsJY36\">https://t.co/7fOGzsJY36</a></p>— Cam Man Ron Lee (@WBTVCamMan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WBTVCamMan/status/1268033582175531015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 3, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"q4b2y\">June 3, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"ai96w\"><b>In Oakland, California</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"icm98\"><b>Janelle Wang</b>, a weeknight news anchor for NBC Bay Area, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/janellewang/status/1268435157578465280\">tweeted</a> aerial footage of a demonstration a little before midnight, noting: “Having some fun at tonight's Oakland Protest. People doing the electric slide. Protesters out past curfew and a few pointing lasers at our news chopper, which is dangerous & a federal crime, but overall, a peaceful night.” According to <a href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/multiple-lasers-pointed-at-nbc-bay-area-chopper-above-oakland-demonstration/2303255/?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_BAYBrand\">coverage</a> of the protest on NBC Bay Area’s website, the first laser was pointed at the helicopter just before 9 p.m., and in footage Wang posted on Twitter, at least four streaks of green light can be seen flashing up to the sky.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Having some fun at tonight's Oakland Protest. People doing the electric slide. Protesters out past curfew and a few pointing lasers at our news chopper, which is dangerous & a federal crime, but overall, a peaceful night. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nbcbayarea?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nbcbayarea</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/Na7mXu9ZJa\">https://t.co/Na7mXu9ZJa</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloydProtest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/vZjffhJgnH\">pic.twitter.com/vZjffhJgnH</a></p>— Janelle Wang (@janellewang) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/janellewang/status/1268435157578465280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 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=\"h8yl3\"><b>In New York, New York</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"lxpb7\">A New York police officer came up behind amNewYork reporter <b>Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech</b>, who’d been documenting protests against police violence in downtown Brooklyn, tapped her camera with his baton and asked why she hadn’t gone home yet, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Mayor Bill de Blasio had imposed an 8 p.m. curfew the day before to try and control escalating unrest in the city. Essential workers — who, in New York, <a href=\"https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/EO202.6.pdf\">include</a> members of the media — were <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/executive-orders/2020/eeo-119.pdf\">exempt</a>. O’Connell-Domenech had been posting updates on her <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AODNewz/status/1268337782252019713\">Twitter feed</a> as she followed a crowd of protesters marching throughout Brooklyn. O’Connell-Domenech said that at around 10 p.m. she had fallen slightly behind the demonstrators. While trying to catch up, she said, she passed a line of three or four police officers. She told the Tracker that one of them approached her from behind and used his baton to tap the camera visibly sticking out of her messenger bag. The officer then asked why she had not yet gone home. O’Connell-Domenech said she directed the officer’s attention to the press pass hanging from her neck and he walked away. “He should have been able to see it dangling in front of my chest,” she said, “but it was dark out and I had a jacket on, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.” The New York City Police Department had not returned the Tracker’s request for comment as of press time. “I have never had an officer physically use his presence, his body size, to try to get me to back up from a situation,” O’Connell-Domenech said. “This was really my first experience with dealing with police officers in a hostile situation.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Night seven marching up Adams <a href=\"https://t.co/YPd6FC1L9U\">pic.twitter.com/YPd6FC1L9U</a></p>— Alejandra 🎅🏻’Connell-Domenech (@AODNewz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AODNewz/status/1268337782252019713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"rxkqx\">June 4, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"kl5a2\"><b>In New York, New York</b></p><p data-block-key=\"zhv2a\">A quartet of journalists, covering protests across New York City that had extended past the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, reported being told to go home by NYPD officers despite being exempt from the curfew and displaying proper identification.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"qh3xm\"><b>Ben Verde</b>, a reporter for Brooklyn Paper, estimated on Twitter that at least 8,000 people had gathered at a vigil for George Floyd at McCarren Park in Brooklyn. After the vigil, the participants began to peacefully march to the south. According to Verde’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/verde_nyc/status/1268707785753219079\">Twitter thread</a> from that night, riot police showed up around 9 p.m., barricading the crowd in the intersection of Wythe Avenue and Penn Street. About 20 minutes later, Verde <a href=\"https://twitter.com/verde_nyc/status/1268714500049551366\">tweeted</a>: “And shit just changed. Cops charge the crowd, beating, arresting.” Shortly before 9:40, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/verde_nyc/status/1268719180808884225\">reported</a>: “White shirt office[r] tells me ‘we gave you a chance to leave.’ I inform him curfew doesn’t apply to me, he charges me and says ‘you got a problem? I’ll take your fucking press pass.’” Verde told the Tracker in an email that he “ran in the other direction while [the officer] ran at me.” After he left the scene, he continued to report that night. Verde told the Tracker that someone filed a complaint about the interaction, but he declined to pursue it.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And shit just changed. Cops charge the crowd, beating, arresting. Here’s the moment. <a href=\"https://t.co/jVOqkb4T5c\">pic.twitter.com/jVOqkb4T5c</a></p>— Ben Verde (@verde_nyc) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/verde_nyc/status/1268714500049551366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"ngpos\"><b>Julianne Cuba</b>, a reporter with Streetsblog NYC, told the Tracker in an email that she started reporting that night after hearing “many cop cars racing by and so went to go see what was happening.” She said that she biked past the 88th Precinct in Brooklyn, where federal agents, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julcuba/status/1268730203142045696/photo/3\">idling</a> despite no protesters being nearby. Cuba said she was biking past the corner of Wallabout Street and Lee Avenue when an officer told her to go home. She told the Tracker that her NYPD-issued press badge was visible, and she held it up in response to the officer’s statement. Cuba reflected in her email that she thinks the officer targeted her either because she is a young woman or because of her press pass, or both. She doesn’t believe she could have been mistaken for a protester because she “wouldn’t have been a protester by [herself].” She explained how she later found the protesters and followed them to downtown Brooklyn. In a confrontation among police and protesters in which police were pushing everyone off a sidewalk, Cuba argued that she, as a credentialed reporter, had a right to be there. When the officers did not yield, she said she “walked away to not risk anything worse.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A cop just told me to go home with my NYPD press pass visible, meanwhile <a href=\"https://t.co/zceCjVQz8a\">pic.twitter.com/zceCjVQz8a</a></p>— Julianne Cuba (@Julcuba) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julcuba/status/1268720020344930304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"apahr\"><b>Caroline Haskins</b>, a reporter with BuzzFeed News, was following a large crowd of protesters in Manhattan. At 9:30 p.m., she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268717703314972672\">posted</a> a video of the protesters playing music, dancing and chanting “Black Lives Matter.” Forty minutes later, the atmosphere had changed. On <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268726970331906051\">Twitter</a>, Haskins wrote: “Police descending on protesters who were completely peaceful. Completely chaos. People screaming. Police grabbed my arms and tried to cuff me but let me go when I showed my press pass,” adding, “There are so many officers here. One shouted ‘if you’re press you’d better have your badge our or else you’re getting collared.’” In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268981891455160328\">Tweet</a> sent the following day, Haskins said: “Last night, police officers let me go and didn't arrest me when I showed a BuzzFeed press badge. But about 5 minutes later, an officer asked for press creds again. I showed my BuzzFeed badge and he said ‘That’s not an NYPD press pass, you need to leave,’” adding “NYPD DCPI has said that an outlet press badge is sufficient for anyone covering a protest. But NYPD officers are still telling reporters something else on the ground.” Haskins told the Tracker she complied and left shortly thereafter. “I think he was just trying to get us to leave and see if that would work,” she said. “It was unclear if he would have actually done anything or tried to arrest us if we didn’t move in two minutes like we did.” Haskins said she reached out to the NYPD for comment but did not receive a response. She later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268981996308570112\">reflected</a> on Twitter: “Having a BuzzFeed badge was a determining factor in my safety. Organizers and freelancers don't have that safety.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There are so many officers here. One shouted “if you’re press you’d better have your badge our or else you’re getting collared.” <a href=\"https://t.co/xo9WpRtfOP\">pic.twitter.com/xo9WpRtfOP</a></p>— Caroline Haskins (@caro1inehaskins) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268727209205907458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Even so, having a BuzzFeed badge was a determining factor in my safety. Organizers and freelancers don't have that safety</p>— Caroline Haskins (@caro1inehaskins) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/caro1inehaskins/status/1268981996308570112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"rg315\"><b>Daniel Moritz-Rabson</b>, a freelance journalist, told the Tracker in a phone interview of an incident of law enforcement in Brooklyn <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a> a group of protesters and journalists for about 15 minutes that night. Around 10:30 p.m., he shared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DMoritzRabson/status/1268732222942711808\">video</a> of the scene, writing, “Police just moved on protesters. A standoff followed. Swarms of cops now staring down protesters. We’re surrounded on both sides.” He subsequently told the Tracker: “And then after 15 minutes, where it seemed like the police were going to start whacking and arbitrarily arresting people, they opened what had been a wall of police and they were ushering people out.” Moritz-Rabson said he stepped through and joined a group of NYPD-credentialed reporters standing off to the side. Immediately after joining them, he said, an officer approached and asked for his press badge, which he did not have. He had previously exchanged emails with NYC Press Secretary Freddi Goldstein, who suggested he carry business cards to have some form of press identification. The officer rejected his offer to show her his business card. As Moritz-Rabson and others left, they were urged along by NYPD officers, who “reminded us that we could go home or be arrested,” according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DMoritzRabson/status/1268734725579051013\">tweet</a> by Moritz-Rabson. The NYPD <a href=\"https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/rule/31926/\">would hold a hearing about amending</a> the rules around press passes in August 2020. The department proposed revoking a journalist’s NYPD-issued press pass if they were either lawfully arrested or failed “to comply with a lawful order of a police officer.” Following a public hearing and broad censure of the proposed rule change, the city of New York <a href=\"https://council.nyc.gov/keith-powers/news/council-members-keith-powers-adrienne-adams-legislation-transfer-oversight-press-credentials/\">announced plans</a> to take the issuance of press credentials out of the NYPD’s jurisdiction.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As we left, there were more cops waiting with batons. They kindly reminded us that we could go home or be arrested. Now there are many cop cars driving past and dozens of cops blocking certain streets near Barclays.</p>— Daniel Moritz-Rabson (@DMoritzRabson) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DMoritzRabson/status/1268734725579051013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"0wima\">June 9, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"7rrx1\"><b>In Ohama, Nebraska</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"3qvyx\"><b>Kent Luetzen</b>, a reporter for CBS affiliate KMTV, said he was threatened with arrest and repeatedly told to leave while covering a protest on June 9, 2020. Thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Omaha to honor a 22-year old Black man who was shot and killed by an Omaha business owner more than a week prior, according to KTIV. At the intersection of South 13th Street and Harney Street, Luetzen told the Tracker that National Guardsmen and Omaha police told him that he'd be arrested if he did not leave. "It's really hard to know what you're supposed to do in those moments," he said. "We went as far as we could without having to leave." While he and his colleagues continued reporting, he said they weren't able to see what was going on. Luetzen said he had his press credentials around his neck and a KMTV logo on his hat. When asked for comment about another incident, in which Luetzen was briefly detained on June 1, Lt. Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent “clear communication” to news outlets “to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media” and to “wear highly visible vests.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"4sewe\">June 12, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"w6gu2\"><b>In Miami, Florida</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"3vh5w\">A group of journalists, including Miami Herald reporter <b>David Ovalle</b>, were covering protests along I-95 when a Florida Highway Patrol commander approached, yelled that they weren’t allowed to cover the protest and accused them of inciting a riot. Ovalle told the Tracker that members of the media were standing in several groups removed from the protesters and taking pictures. Ovalle said that, since his phone was dying, he was snapping very few pictures and mostly taking notes in his notebook. At one point, he said, “an FHP commander, who was the only one not wearing a helmet and mask or anything” walked up to the protesters and media and motioned for them to clear off the highway. As the journalists trailed behind the dispersing crowd, Ovalle said, the FHP commander came up to them and yelled, “They’re allowed to be here. But you guys can’t fucking be here. You’re inciting them and if you come up here again, we’re going to arrest you for inciting a riot.” Ovalle said he and the other media were surprised and irritated because, as Ovalle put it, the commander “waited for everyone to leave to heap abuse on us,” adding, “It was the weirdest thing because all the frontline guys, they were all cool. I even chatted with a few police officers, some people I recognized. Everyone was like, ‘Be safe, wear a mask.’ I think it was just him. He seemed frustrated and just tired and cranky and decided to unload on us.” Ovalle said the journalists eventually walked away, and were yelled at by some protesters for leaving when the police told them to. NBC6 reporter <b>Jamie Guirola</b> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamieNBC6/status/1271779719596453888\">responded</a> to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidOvalle305/status/1271598981555130368\">tweet</a> Ovalle had posted about the incident, writing, “@FHPMiami also wrongfully accused of me and my crew of leading protestors on the highway and inciting a riot. A discussion needs to take place with @FHPSWFL about our rights as journalists and roles in that situation.” One of the Herald’s editors later <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article243523097.html\">published</a> an editorial about the incident and wrote to the FHP’s public information officer. Ovalle told the Tracker that the officer responded with an apology, reiterated that the media had the right to cover the protests and attributed the commander’s actions to the tense situation that day.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FHP big wig (looks like a commander of some sort) started yelling at me and some TV guys. “Media! They can protest. You cannot be up here! You’re inciting it! You come up here again and you will be arrested” <br><br>I was calmly taking notes, BTW, and watching.</p>— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidOvalle305/status/1271598981555130368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thanks for being there to witness it. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FHPMiami?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FHPMiami</a> also wrongfully accused of me and my crew of leading protestors on the highway and inciting a riot. A discussion needs to take place with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FHPSWFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FHPSWFL</a> about our rights as journalists and roles in that situation. <a href=\"https://t.co/Fc67B0cbjw\">pic.twitter.com/Fc67B0cbjw</a></p>— Jamie Guirola (@jamieNBC6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamieNBC6/status/1271779719596453888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"h4i2w\">June 14, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"c3gof\"><b>In Richmond, Virginia</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"vhyus\"><b>Brandon Jarvis</b>, a freelance reporter, was caught in pepper spray while covering protests in the Virginia capital. Demonstrators had gathered that night at Monroe Park around 9 p.m., assembling to protest the events of the previous evening, in which a police car drove into a crowd of protesters and nearly ran one person over. Demanding that the officers involved be fired, protesters marched to the police station. In an email to the Tracker, Jarvis described the protest as “tense but I don’t recall any damage being done to property. Emotions were high.” At 9:45, Jarvis noted on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1272344437633486850\">Twitter</a>, “Someone just threw fireworks near the alley and police officers came running down the alley with what looks like paintball guns. The crowd fell back for a minute but is reforming.” Within a few minutes, Jarvis would tweet that cops had hurried to form a line in front of the station. Jarvis told the Tracker that he couldn’t remember if the Richmond Police Department ordered the crowd to disperse, as it often had during other protests he covered. There are no tweets from that night on the RPD’s Twitter account, which, according to Jarvis, frequently posted announcements of unlawful assembly. Jarvis said he saw officers suiting up and putting on masks, and watched as one officer spoke to each officer in the line. At this point, Jarvis said, he moved farther back to plan a quick and safe exit from the crowd if needed, as he could tell that the scene was escalating. As he was returning to the front of the crowd, he said, people started running, so Jarvis said he decided that the safest route was to walk sideways across the lot, around 20 feet from the police line. It was at this distance that Jarvis was hit with the pepper spray. Jarvis noted on Twitter that evening that field medics helped to wash out his eyes and that “I’m falling back now bec I’m out of water and medics were having to use a lot of theirs.” In a statement <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/RichmondPolice/posts/10158378820329361\">posted</a> the following day on Facebook, Richmond Police Chief William C. Smith said, “Organizers were intent on provocation and creating mayhem by throwing rocks and other objects at the officers on duty, who showed great restraint in response to these attacks.” The statement went on to read that “the escalating violence prompted multiple declarations of an unlawful assembly, which was broadcast to the crowd several times with instructions to disperse. After warnings were disregarded, a pepper spray fogger was deployed.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pepper sprayed was just sprayed into the crowd people are on the ground coughing</p>— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1272346899157266432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 15, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"frac3\">June 15, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"ujgt6\"><b>In Richmond, Virginia</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"10mbk\"><b>Andrew Ringle</b>, the executive editor of the Commonwealth Times, the independent student newspaper of Virginia Commonwealth University, was reporting on protests outside police headquarters when an officer rolled a flash-bang grenade that veered away from protesters and exploded next to him, according to video of the incident. In a phone interview with the Tracker, Ringle said that the protesters who’d congregated in front of the precinct that evening initially faced a stationary police line. Ringle said that police eventually began to move toward the protesters, who backed up until they were cornered against a brick wall in a parking lot. Ringle said he stood to the right of the protesters, holding his press badge issued by Capital News Service in front of him in an effort to distance himself from the protesters. A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1272715201675223042\">video</a> Ringle posted on Twitter from that night shows the police firing explosives, including flash-bang grenades and tear gas, against the cornered crowd. At 10:15 p.m., according to the time stamp on the video on Ringle’s phone, protesters were yelling “Fuck you” at the police line when an officer threw a flash-bang grenade toward the protesters. In the video, the canister can be seen curving away from the protest line and toward Ringle, exploding near him. Ringle told the Tracker that the officer who threw the canister looked surprised when it veered away from protesters and landed at his feet. According to Ringle, one of the officers yelled at protesters to “please back up, there is tear gas in the air” after the explosion. The crowd was unable to comply because they were already against the wall in the parking lot, according to Ringle. Ringle said that the officers continued to use “chemical agents” against the protesters, who <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1272716877287088129\">held out umbrellas</a> to shield themselves and Ringle. Ringle said he left the protest scene after nearly 30 minutes, and continued to report for several hours after the incident. He tweeted an update at 10:20, saying that he was “<a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1272715627153817601\">currently shaking</a>” but safe. Two weeks after the protest, the Richmond police chief <a href=\"https://vpm.org/news/articles/15312/richmond-police-chief-says-officers-lacked-training-written-policies-on-use-of\">revealed</a> in a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting that the department lacked consistent and universal training when it came to using non-lethal dispersal methods.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video from Richmond police headquarters last night: I was showing my press badge to these officers before one rolled a flash bang directly toward me and a group of protesters. <a href=\"https://t.co/hdMuBpfnn4\">pic.twitter.com/hdMuBpfnn4</a></p>— Andrew Ringle (@aeringle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1272880751793582080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"bsua6\">June 21, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"dupsr\"><b>In Compton, California</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"z9azw\">At least half a dozen journalists — <b>Josie Huang</b>, of KPCC and the LAist; freelancer <b>Aarón Cantú</b>; <b>Brittny Mejia</b>, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times; <b>Emily Valdez</b>, a reporter the news radio station KNX; and LA Taco reporters <b>Brian Feinzimer</b> and <b>Memo Torres</b> — reported or appeared to be caught in tear gas and other riot-control agents while covering a protest of the death of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who’d been fatally shot by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies three days earlier. A little before 3 p.m., Huang <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274822384067866624\">tweeted</a> that protesters were beginning to march from the auto body shop where Guardado had been shot to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department station in Compton, some 3 miles away. As the crowd approached the station an hour later, it had <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274839989101096960\">grown</a> to number in the hundreds. At 5:13 p.m., Mejia <a href=\"https://twitter.com/brittny_mejia/status/1274858072008056832\">tweeted</a> a video of Guardado’s father, Christopher, speaking outside the Compton Courthouse, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/brittny_mejia/status/1274858350463692801\">noting</a> a minute later that scene appeared to be escalating, writing, “Protest for #AndresGuardado, deputies now appear to be shooting non lethal projectiles. Lot of booms and smoke.” She <a href=\"https://twitter.com/brittny_mejia/status/1274867612275494913\">later explained</a> that organizers had told the crowd to disperse because “something was happening around the corner between a small crowd of protesters and deputies.” In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaron_con_choco/status/1274856515808026624\">photo</a> posted by Cantú a few minutes earlier, seven officers could be seen in an alley near the courthouse. Two minutes later he tweeted, “They just shot some kind of explosive at close range. People calling for medic.” In a video <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaron_con_choco/status/1274858749774008320\">posted</a> shortly thereafter, he and the crowd of protesters can be seen frantically running away as the officers began to liberally fire what Cantú would later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaron_con_choco/status/1274909401363537920\">identify as</a> the non-lethal ammunition: rubber bullets, pepper balls and smoke gas. Huang tweeted similar footage, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274859269284704256\">showing</a> 12 visible officers and protesters <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274859389921267713\">fleeing</a> a barrage of tear gas and flash-bang fire. A few minutes later, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274860188898430976\">wrote</a>, “Just got teargassed. So did dozens others worse than me. I stood with protestwrs [sic] holding my press badge.” A little before 5:30 p.m., Mejia also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/brittny_mejia/status/1274861703797239808\">tweeted</a> that her eyes were watering from the crowd-dispersal devices. Around 5:45 p.m., Feinzimer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bfeinzimer/status/1274866211881287680/photo/1\">shared</a> photos showing how “@KNX1070 reporter @EmilyValdezKNX and demonstrators are treated by community medics for exposure to pepper balls shot by @LASDHQ.” Feinzimer also told the Tracker in an email that both he and his colleague Memo Torres had been caught near separate flash-bang grenades, noting that he also breathed in some pepper ball gas and got some in his eyes. Torres <a href=\"https://twitter.com/el_tragon_de_LA/status/1274893344502509568\">tweeted</a> a picture later that evening showing his hat splattered with what he thought was residue from either pepper balls or tear gas.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/AndresGuardado?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AndresGuardado</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/mdq5ARyHFM\">pic.twitter.com/mdq5ARyHFM</a></p>— Aarón Cantú (@aaron_con_choco) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaron_con_choco/status/1274858749774008320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/YZ9mNda48q\">pic.twitter.com/YZ9mNda48q</a></p>— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1274859389921267713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"7bx1h\">June 23, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"2xp1o\"><b>In Phoenix, Arizona</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"6013w\"><b>Bob McClay</b>, a reporter for KTAR News 92.3, was documenting demonstrations in north Phoenix where protesters and police were facing off at the intersection of Cave Creek Road and East Sharon Drive. “I have been told if I keep taking pictures I will be part of unlawful assembly and will be subject to arrest,” McClay <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BobMcClay/status/1275583269019381760\">wrote</a> on Twitter. McClay was not placed under arrest.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The scene outside dream city church @ Cave creek and Sharon Cave Creek and Sharon. I have been told if I keep taking pictures I will be part of unlawful assembly and will be subject to arrest. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTAR923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KTAR923</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/BrhBcz4YkR\">pic.twitter.com/BrhBcz4YkR</a></p>— Bob McClay (@BobMcClay) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BobMcClay/status/1275583269019381760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3p03q\">June 29, 2020</h4><p data-block-key=\"83x2v\"><b>In Graham, North Carolina</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"auvvr\">The nation’s racial reckoning renewed outcry in Graham about a Confederate monument outside the county courthouse. Sheriff Terry Johnson’s office released a statement on June 24 <a href=\"https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/alamance-co-sheriff-issues-statement-about-graham-confederate-statue/83-07808685-3455-417e-9ef9-01684efac572\">saying</a> that he was legally obligated to protect the county’s property where the statue sits, and two days later, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office issued a <a href=\"https://www.wxii12.com/article/alamance-county-sheriff-graham-no-longer-issuing-protest-permits/32985881\">blanket refusal</a> to grant protest permits, writing, “[N]o permits to protest in the city of Graham, NC to include the Alamance County Courthouse have been granted, nor will be granted for the foreseeable future.” The ACLU of North Carolina called the action explicitly unconstitutional in a letter <a href=\"https://www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/sites/default/files/06.26.2020_alamance_letter_.pdf\">co-penned</a> with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Emancipate NC on June 26. On the morning of June 29, the mayor of nearby Burlington <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article243868472.html\">announced</a> his support for relocating the monument, so that afternoon, News & Observer reporter <b>Tammy Grubb</b> and videographer <b>Julia Wall</b> made their way to the courthouse to see if any protesters had gathered, Wall explained in a phone interview with the Tracker. Wall said that she and Grubb “were just hanging around, sitting and talking, kind of waiting to see if we saw anybody [when] one protester showed up,” advocating for the monument to be taken down. The News & Observer’s coverage of the day’s events included a video of an officer <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article243868472.html\">approaching</a> the protester a few minutes after she’d arrived and telling her that she couldn’t protest on the property and that if she stayed, she would be arrested for loitering. The protester <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TammyGrubb/status/1277745944323411970\">moved</a> across the street and stood in front of her car, soon striking up a conversation with the reporters. According to the News & Observer, two officers soon approached the protester in her new spot. One, a sergeant, said that “anyone standing out here” would be arrested and charged with a failure to disperse if the group didn’t leave immediately. The group in question included the lone protester, Grubb, Wall and two bystanders. Wall told the Tracker that she and Grubb reminded him that they were press and that he couldn’t threaten them with arrest for protesting. She also said that another officer came up shortly thereafter and talked to the protester about putting her sign away. The group moved to sit on a brick wall in a square across the street from the courthouse so they weren’t technically standing on the sidewalk anymore. At this point, Wall told the Tracker that “a sheriff's deputy came up who was a lot cooler-headed and was like, ‘You guys are fine. We’re not going to arrest you. It’ll be OK. We just want people to not obstruct the sidewalk.’ Though there wasn’t any foot traffic. But basically, cooler heads prevailed.” In July, the Graham City Council <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7002519-Executed-Parade-and-Demonstration-Ordinance.html\">repealed</a> the article in the city’s ordinances about restricting demonstrations.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No answer from Graham police about why we’re all going to be arrested for for standing on the sidewalk. <a href=\"https://t.co/QlvwCP8IMj\">pic.twitter.com/QlvwCP8IMj</a></p>— Tammy Grubb (@TammyGrubb) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TammyGrubb/status/1277747772649766912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 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=\"vsnjw\"><i>Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category,</i> <i>go</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter&categories=Other+Incident&endpage=2\"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photographer assaulted, had camera stolen while covering Manhattan protests for NY Post",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-assaulted-had-camera-stolen-while-covering-manhattan-protests-ny-post/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-09T13:59:35.580815Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:56:56.712946Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:56:56.619613Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1l24m\">Freelance photographer Stephen Yang was assaulted by an unknown individual and had his camera stolen while covering protests in New York City on June 1, 2020, for the New York Post.</p><p data-block-key=\"q5mu7\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during a May 25 arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kb4j\">Yang told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that while covering June 1 protests in Manhattan he was taking photos of individuals looting stores near the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 39th Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"zoex0\">He said that an unknown individual approached him from behind and began to yank on his camera strap. Yang said that the individual then punched him in the face and was able to get the camera free from his shoulder.</p><p data-block-key=\"n0pcd\">Yang said the blow left him with a bloody nose but that he did not seek medical attention. He also said he did not get a clear look at the individual who threw the punch and that he didn’t believe he was targeted for being a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"n6ghc\">Yang said that police officers at the scene did not directly witness the assault but that one officer approached him after it was over and encouraged him to report it.</p><p data-block-key=\"38ki3\">He later reported the assault and the camera theft to the New York City Police Department. He said the stolen camera was valued at $2,500 and that his equipment is covered by insurance.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g4ud\">Fortunately, Yang was carrying a backup camera on the night of the assault and was able to keep covering protests for several more hours, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"16dfn\">Yang said he did not encounter any further violence while covering demonstrations in New York City, but that he took time off work after the June 1 assault to recuperate.</p><p data-block-key=\"mppkl\">“I had to take a couple of days off after, I think, just for my mental health,” Yang said. “Overall I felt extremely lucky that this was the only incident I’ve experienced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"orbij\">The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vcf9\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had 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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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lglyx\">A New York City police officer stands in front of a vandalized store following protests in the Manhattan borough of New York on June 1, 2020.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Telemundo journalists hit with projectiles during protests in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/telemundo-journalists-hit-projectiles-during-protests-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-10T18:59:02.794017Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:32.846582Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:32.756458Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aydoq\">Multiple journalists for the Spanish-language outlet Telemundo reported being hit with projectiles while covering protests near the White House on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ptd2h\">The protests that day were part of a wave of demonstrations resulting from a viral video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhvfj\">The Telemundo journalists — cameraman Edwin López, senior Washington correspondent Cristina Londoño Rooney and bureau chief Lori Montenegro — reported being hit with projectiles as law enforcement officials attempted to disperse protesters half an hour before the district’s 7 p.m. curfew on June 1 and as President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Rose Garden, nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"kon3q\">Emailed requests to the Telemundo journalists for interviews were not returned as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"s03uz\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luisfemiami/status/1267615162355388417\">video</a> posted shortly before being hit, Londoño described “a very tense atmosphere” and how tear gas was “already starting to make our throats itch.” She wondered if “protesters are aware that the president will be addressing the nation any time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qppqe\">After the attack, the Colombian journalist posted a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=731606084241442\">video</a> in which she detailed the journalists’ injuries, stating that López had been hit on his right arm and ribs; that Montenegro had been hit on the back and that her throat was sore after breathing air filled with tear gas; and that law enforcement had used “long weapons that were pointing at us” to push them out of the area close to the White House.</p><p data-block-key=\"gyvq0\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704/photo/1\">tweet on June 5</a>, Londoño shared pictures of her wounds and bruises, writing, “The White House also said rubber bullets were not used. Can anyone tell me what this looks like?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">La Casa Blanca negó que usaron gases lacrimógenos o balas de goma para dispersar a los manifestantes y periodistas el lunes. Sentí los gases y el <a href=\"https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@washingtonpost</a> ahora los confirma. Y esto ¿Me pueden decir esto qué es? <a href=\"https://t.co/CkjEIPSwqu\">pic.twitter.com/CkjEIPSwqu</a></p>— Cristina Londoño Rooney (@CristiLondono) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"gjpgj\">D.C. is notable for the<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\"> large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. Park Police said in a <a href=\"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/6_2_20_statement_from_acting_chief_monahan.htm\">statement</a> on June 2 that its officers and other assisting law enforcement partners had not used tear gas that day, though multiple outlets, including the <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/park-police-spokesman-acknowledges-chemical-agents-used-on-lafayette-square-protesters-are-similar-to-tear-gas/2020/06/05/971a8d78-a75a-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html\">Washington Post</a>, have reported that “chemical agents” were deployed. Regarding this particular incident, Park Police did not respond to our request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"ce0vn\">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": "Student journalist pepper sprayed, threatened with arrest while covering Columbus protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-pepper-sprayed-threatened-with-arrest-while-covering-columbus-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:23:18.383042Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T22:03:12.738694Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T22:03:12.678572Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"city": "Columbus",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tzvyh\">Three journalists from The Lantern, the Ohio State University student newspaper, were pepper sprayed and threatened with arrest by police officers while covering protests in Columbus, Ohio, on June 1, 2020. The three students clearly and repeatedly identified themselves as members of the media before the assault, according to interviews with the journalists and video footage of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"ra1v3\">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 violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"hisqe\">On the night of June 1, Lantern editors Max Garrison, Sarah Szilagy and Maeve Walsh were covering peaceful protests that had moved from the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus toward the Ohio State University campus. About 20 minutes after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect, the protesters reached the intersection of North High Street and Lane Avenue on the edge of campus.</p><p data-block-key=\"0dpxm\">Up until this point, the journalists had not noticed a police presence. A few minutes after reaching the intersection, however, police cars suddenly arrived and stopped behind the protesters, Garrison and Walsh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"gvbtj\">Police officers got out of their cars, walked swiftly through the crowd, and began using pepper spray to disperse the protesters, they said. The three journalists, who were standing behind a concrete barrier on the sidewalk, somewhat removed from the protesters in the street, remained on the scene as the protesters left, Garrison and Walsh told the Tracker. Szilagy, the Lantern’s campus editor, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"t544h\">The journalists were then “approached from multiple directions by police officers telling them to ‘go home’ because of the curfew,” according to an <a href=\"https://www.thelantern.com/2020/06/lantern-journalists-targeted-by-police-pepper-sprayed/\">account</a> of the incident Garrison wrote for The Lantern.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci6fi\">“Our reporters continued to film and identify themselves as members of the news media, who are exempt from the curfew,” wrote Garrison, who is the assistant campus editor. “A group of police officers continued to yell over our reporters, saying they ‘don’t care’ and ‘get inside.’ The officers also threatened our reporters with arrest.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Columbus Police began spraying protestors around 10:25 at the corner of High and Lane. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/m_p_garrison?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@m_p_garrison</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahszilagy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sarahszilagy</a> and I were also sprayed despite making them aware we are members of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheLantern</a>. The press is exempt from the curfew. <a href=\"https://t.co/BcyitLujyQ\">pic.twitter.com/BcyitLujyQ</a></p>— Maeve Walsh (@maevewalsh27) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/maevewalsh27/status/1267646128289447939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"w8jd9\">Another group of officers approached and “got very close to us,” according to Garrison, forcing them to step back. Garrison said one officer pushed him. Another shot pepper spray at the group from point-blank range, hitting him on the arm and Szilagy in the eyes, Garrison said. Walsh was not directly hit, but said the gas made her cough.</p><p data-block-key=\"sqglh\">In a video of the incident The Lantern posted to Twitter, the journalists are pepper sprayed after repeatedly identifying as media who are “exempt from curfew.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi everyone: this was me. I was sprayed in the face after we identified ourselves and presented our press passes multiple times. Media are exempt from curfew. Media are exempt from curfew. <a href=\"https://t.co/DAIDudVpud\">https://t.co/DAIDudVpud</a></p>— Sarah Szilagy (@sarahszilagy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahszilagy/status/1267645179567263746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"kw887\">Adam Cairns, a staff photographer with the Columbus Dispatch, witnessed the attack. Cairns told the Tracker that he had been standing near the edge of the intersection with the student journalists, but turned to walk away before another officer came around the corner and shot pepper spray at the journalists. “[I] will attest that they were screaming at the cops that they were media,” Cairns <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267661446411943936\">posted to Twitter</a>. “Police, despite clearly seeing press credentials, did not care. I crossed Lane at that point and missed the pepper spray.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is a photo of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheLantern</a> journalists showing their press IDs to police moments before being pepper sprayed <a href=\"https://t.co/Mvr4TLT83F\">pic.twitter.com/Mvr4TLT83F</a></p>— Adam Cairns (@atomicphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267675830882369536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"qjfde\">The three journalists turned to flee but were followed by an officer who fired pepper spray at their backs before they turned into an alley, according to Garrison. They then sought refuge nearby at the house of their editor, Sam Raudins, where they spent several hours recovering. None of them returned to the protests that night. “They basically just censored us,” Szilagy <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/06/03/ohio-state-student-journalists-told-police-they-were-media-then-police-sprayed-them/\">told The Washington Post</a>, “and made us incapable of covering other things that happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9x3o\">In the hours following the attack, Raudins sent an email to the Columbus Division of Police reporting the incident. “This was not our team getting caught in the crossfire; this was a direct interaction between CPD and The Lantern,” she wrote in the letter posted to Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our editor-in-chief <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sam_raudins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sam_raudins</a> emailed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ColumbusPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ColumbusPolice</a>, reporting how officers threatened to arrest and then pepper-sprayed our reporters after our reporters identified themselves as members of the news media. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/columbusprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#columbusprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/UXaSYC9bVQ\">pic.twitter.com/UXaSYC9bVQ</a></p>— The Lantern (@TheLantern) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern/status/1267654250072588288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"eonqu\">In a press conference the following day, Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was asked about the police officers’ treatment of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c5ip\">“There’s no malice involved, there’s no intent, it’s just a very chaotic situation,” Quinlan <a href=\"https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/watch-mayor-ginther-chief-quinlan-hold-briefing-discuss-columbus-protests-2020-jun/530-d7f35334-ca71-40fb-9508-6ca49a458c8f\">said</a>. “And in that regard, I’d ask the public to have some patience and please comply, and we’ll work it out afterward. But please don’t stand there and argue; move along and comply and we’ll fix this after the fact so nothing bad happens.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ehwe\">Quinlan also said, “we are dealing with imperfect human beings in imperfect situations. Mistakes will happen and we will take action to correct them and make sure that we do not allow our mistakes to be repeated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8m4h4\">When asked specifically about the incident involving the Ohio State student journalists, Quinlan said the reporters were not easily recognizable as news media, but the department had launched an internal affairs investigation of the officers, the <a href=\"https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200602/columbus-police-to-investigate-officers-who-pepper-sprayed-ohio-state-student-journalists?rssfeed=true\">Dispatch reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"r5f98\">“We are aware of the incident in question and it is currently under investigation per our use of force policy,” Sergeant James Fuqua, public information officer, said in response to the Tracker’s request for a status update.</p><p data-block-key=\"4urkr\">The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"mg48a\">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=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=111\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Student journalist pepper sprayed, threatened with arrest amid Columbus protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-pepper-sprayed-threatened-with-arrest-amid-columbus-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-29T18:41:21.413848Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T22:02:10.897374Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T22:02:10.837196Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Columbus",
"longitude": -82.99879,
"latitude": 39.96118,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6yndf\">Three journalists from The Lantern, the Ohio State University student newspaper, were pepper sprayed and threatened with arrest by police officers while covering protests in Columbus, Ohio, on June 1, 2020. The three students clearly and repeatedly identified themselves as members of the media before the assault, according to interviews with the journalists and video footage of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"1mjb0\">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 violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"da4ez\">On the night of June 1, Lantern editors Maeve Walsh, Sarah Szilagy and Max Garrison were covering peaceful protests that had moved from the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus toward the Ohio State University campus. About 20 minutes after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect, the protesters reached the intersection of North High Street and Lane Avenue on the edge of campus.</p><p data-block-key=\"i34s0\">Up until this point, the journalists had not noticed a police presence. A few minutes after reaching the intersection, however, police cars suddenly arrived and stopped behind the protesters, Walsh and Garrison told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud1a2\">Police officers got out of their cars, walked swiftly through the crowd, and began using pepper spray to disperse the protesters, they said. The three journalists, who were standing behind a concrete barrier on the sidewalk, somewhat removed from the protesters in the street, remained on the scene as the protesters left, Walsh and Garrison told the Tracker. Szilagy, the Lantern’s campus editor, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ovrul\">The journalists were then “approached from multiple directions by police officers telling them to ‘go home’ because of the curfew,” according to an <a href=\"https://www.thelantern.com/2020/06/lantern-journalists-targeted-by-police-pepper-sprayed/\">account</a> of the incident Garrison wrote for The Lantern.</p><p data-block-key=\"thgz1\">Walsh, special projects editor, said that all three journalists were holding their press passes in the air to show them to the officers and repeatedly identified themselves as press. In a video Walsh posted to Twitter, an officer tells her, “Leave or you’re going to jail.” When Walsh responds, “we’re members of the media,” the officer says, “I don’t care.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Columbus Police began spraying protestors around 10:25 at the corner of High and Lane. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/m_p_garrison?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@m_p_garrison</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahszilagy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sarahszilagy</a> and I were also sprayed despite making them aware we are members of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheLantern</a>. The press is exempt from the curfew. <a href=\"https://t.co/BcyitLujyQ\">pic.twitter.com/BcyitLujyQ</a></p>— Maeve Walsh (@maevewalsh27) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/maevewalsh27/status/1267646128289447939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"ds8xx\">Another group of officers approached and “got very close to us,” according to Garrison, forcing them to step back. Garrison said one officer pushed him. Another shot pepper spray at the group from point-blank range, hitting him on the arm and Szilagy in the eyes, Garrison said. Walsh was not directly hit, but said the gas made her cough.</p><p data-block-key=\"a01e2\">In a video of the incident The Lantern posted to Twitter, the journalists are pepper sprayed after repeatedly identifying as media who are “exempt from curfew.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi everyone: this was me. I was sprayed in the face after we identified ourselves and presented our press passes multiple times. Media are exempt from curfew. Media are exempt from curfew. <a href=\"https://t.co/DAIDudVpud\">https://t.co/DAIDudVpud</a></p>— Sarah Szilagy (@sarahszilagy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahszilagy/status/1267645179567263746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"nidb6\">Adam Cairns, a staff photographer with the Columbus Dispatch, witnessed the attack. Cairns told the Tracker that he had been standing near the edge of the intersection with the student journalists, but turned to walk away before another officer came around the corner and shot pepper spray at the journalists. “[I] will attest that they were screaming at the cops that they were media,” Cairns <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267661446411943936\">posted to Twitter</a>. “Police, despite clearly seeing press credentials, did not care. I crossed Lane at that point and missed the pepper spray.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is a photo of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheLantern</a> journalists showing their press IDs to police moments before being pepper sprayed <a href=\"https://t.co/Mvr4TLT83F\">pic.twitter.com/Mvr4TLT83F</a></p>— Adam Cairns (@atomicphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/atomicphoto/status/1267675830882369536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"gbfjo\">The three journalists turned to flee but were followed by an officer who fired pepper spray at their backs before they turned into an alley, according to Garrison. They then sought refuge nearby at the house of their editor, Sam Raudins, where they spent several hours recovering. None of them returned to the protests that night. “They basically just censored us,” Szilagy <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/06/03/ohio-state-student-journalists-told-police-they-were-media-then-police-sprayed-them/\">told The Washington Post</a>, “and made us incapable of covering other things that happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"slsr8\">In the hours following the attack, Raudins sent an email to the Columbus Division of Police reporting the incident. “This was not our team getting caught in the crossfire; this was a direct interaction between CPD and The Lantern,” she wrote in the letter posted to Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our editor-in-chief <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sam_raudins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sam_raudins</a> emailed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ColumbusPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ColumbusPolice</a>, reporting how officers threatened to arrest and then pepper-sprayed our reporters after our reporters identified themselves as members of the news media. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/columbusprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#columbusprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/UXaSYC9bVQ\">pic.twitter.com/UXaSYC9bVQ</a></p>— The Lantern (@TheLantern) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheLantern/status/1267654250072588288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"4c1r5\">In a press conference the following day, Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was asked about the police officers’ treatment of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"z7mh8\">“There’s no malice involved, there’s no intent, it’s just a very chaotic situation,” Quinlan <a href=\"https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/watch-mayor-ginther-chief-quinlan-hold-briefing-discuss-columbus-protests-2020-jun/530-d7f35334-ca71-40fb-9508-6ca49a458c8f\">said</a>. “And in that regard, I’d ask the public to have some patience and please comply, and we’ll work it out afterward. But please don’t stand there and argue; move along and comply and we’ll fix this after the fact so nothing bad happens.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n6a3g\">Quinlan also said, “we are dealing with imperfect human beings in imperfect situations. Mistakes will happen and we will take action to correct them and make sure that we do not allow our mistakes to be repeated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kk9ri\">When asked specifically about the incident involving the Ohio State student journalists, Quinlan said the reporters were not easily recognizable as news media, but the department had launched an internal affairs investigation of the officers, the <a href=\"https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200602/columbus-police-to-investigate-officers-who-pepper-sprayed-ohio-state-student-journalists?rssfeed=true\">Dispatch reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"01kp7\">“We are aware of the incident in question and it is currently under investigation per our use of force policy,” Sergeant James Fuqua, public information officer, said in response to the Tracker’s request for a status update.</p><p data-block-key=\"2gr3g\">The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"lq3x5\">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=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=111\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist assaulted while covering aftermath of protests in Chicago",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-assaulted-while-covering-aftermath-protests-chicago/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-21T19:56:24.745568Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:06:42.628153Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:06:42.524858Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"96q38\">Ken Bedford, a veteran photographer and cameraman for the television station ABC 7 Chicago, reported that he was assaulted by an unidentified individual on June 1, 2020, while covering damage left in the wake of protests and looting in the South Shore neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"lfvbc\">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 U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8bqr\">On the afternoon of June 1, Bedford and ABC7 reporter Leah Hope were preparing to report on clean-up efforts in the aftermath of looting the night before. They were at a strip mall at the intersection of 75th and Stony Island streets. Suddenly, Bedford was attacked from behind and knocked to the ground by an unidentified man, Bedford <a href=\"https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/09/journalists-wage-legal-fights-after-facing-protest-attacks\">told WTTW</a>, Chicago’s PBS station. Bedford said he didn’t see the man approaching.</p><p data-block-key=\"n95r1\">He “shouldered me and thrusted me forward into the camera and then ultimately to the ground,” Bedford told WTTW. “And then he ran off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vbizj\">Bedford, who did not respond to emailed requests for comment, wrote in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2025624964247946&id=177747199035741\">Facebook post</a> the following day that his camera and tripod had helped break his fall, but that he scraped his knee and bruised his elbow.</p><p data-block-key=\"p76sf\">According to Bedford’s Facebook post, the photojournalist got up and began to pursue his assailant, but the man had joined a “few more men, who were talking among themselves and looking in my direction,” he wrote. “As they started walking towards me, I decided then it was no longer safe for us and I took the camera off the tripod, lowered the tripod slowly and placed them in my car, got in and drove off slowly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wxydt\">ABC7 did not respond to Tracker calls or emails for comment but published that it <a href=\"https://abc7chicago.com/6225826/?fbclid=IwAR0naePt2mLHedSiZCKhGofr9A6csxbiZaF5M53iW86q4NbqRrI7Ga59TKA\">reported</a> the incident to the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"902ml\">The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"93zsp\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ken Bedford (WLS-TV)"
],
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{
"title": "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter assaulted while covering Little Rock protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/arkansas-democrat-gazette-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-little-rock-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-21T02:18:44.373413Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:02.779287Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:53:02.676489Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Little Rock",
"longitude": -92.28959,
"latitude": 34.74648,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rh6ql\">Tony Holt, a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, was struck in the face and injured while he covered protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"jg87c\">Protests in Little Rock began after the death of George Floyd, a Black man, who was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, when a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd’s death prompted widespread demonstrations against racism and police violence across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"lme98\">Holt was reporting on the third day of protests in Little Rock when he was hit and hurt to the point of needing medical treatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"gap9l\">Holt didn’t respond to a request for comment. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Managing Editor Eliza Gaines detailed the incident in an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbt74\">Shortly before he was attacked, Holt<a href=\"https://twitter.com/HoltDemGazette/status/1267653727349026818?s=20\"> tweeted</a> that hundreds of people were still out a few minutes past the city’s 10 p.m. curfew. People had been throwing rocks through windows and damaging property, Gaines said. Holt was “in the thick of it,” she said, when he felt someone take his reporter’s notebook from his pocket. Then he was struck with something.</p><p data-block-key=\"uj72j\">Gaines said many of the details around the attack were unclear. Holt doesn’t know exactly what happened to him, or who did it, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4g7ws\">A “good Samaritan” got him to emergency services, she said, and he was transferred to a hospital. Editors — alerted to the attack by a tweet Holt sent at the time — went to wait for word of his status outside the building, since Covid-19 restrictions barred them from entering.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tprn\">The following day, Holt posted on Twitter that his nose was broken in the attack and that he was in the hospital for five hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"44rzo\">“I have no memory of the attack last night in Little Rock, but there was a small group among the rioters who clearly didn’t want me there,” he wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I have no memory of the attack last night in Little Rock, but there was a small group among the rioters who clearly didn’t want me there. Suffered a broken nose, but no other fractures. All journos, seriously, be careful. I got too close and paid for it w/ a 5-hour hospital stay <a href=\"https://t.co/Dju2BfdsZ6\">pic.twitter.com/Dju2BfdsZ6</a></p>— Tony Holt (@HoltDemGazette) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HoltDemGazette/status/1267825613009633285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"rvi8x\">Holt wasn’t wearing anything that would clearly mark him as a reporter, Gaines said, though he had credentials with him and carried a notebook. The newspaper bought vests with the word “press” on the back for reporters after the assault on Holt, Gaines said, but “we realized it might put a target on someone's back.” Reporters can decide whether or not to wear them, Gaines said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p9re\">“It'd be good if you had it so the police could see it but otherwise it's kind of, you know, alerting others that you're press,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e890p\">Gaines said she didn’t believe the incident had been reported to police. A spokesperson for the Little Rock Police Department said police weren’t aware of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7bp3\">Two days earlier, reporter<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/katv-reporter-assaulted-air-amid-little-rock-protests/\"> Shelby Rose of KATV Channel 7 News</a> was shouted at and struck with an object while she was broadcasting live from protests in Little Rock.</p><p data-block-key=\"v02vo\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd and others while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> here</a>.</p></div>",
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"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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{
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],
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"name": "Arkansas",
"abbreviation": "AR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist arrested amid curfew crackdown in Los Angeles",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-arrested-amid-curfew-crackdown-los-angeles/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-28T03:26:57.868910Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:01:26.131273Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:01:26.001153Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mag01\">Freelance photojournalist Robert Spangle was arrested while covering protests against police violence in Los Angeles on June 1, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Spangle’s exploration of fashion in the protests was published in <a href=\"https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/george-floyd-protest-photos\">British GQ</a> and <a href=\"https://www.achtung-mode.com/black-lives-matter/\">Achtung Digital</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0gv37\">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 U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"bre00\">As part of the protests, hundreds of demonstrators marched down Sunset Boulevard on June 1, according to <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-01/an-lapd-officer-takes-to-his-knee-to-cheers-of-hollywood-protesters\">news reports</a>. But after a 6 p.m. curfew, the majority of protesters began to disperse, Spangle said. He decided to head back toward his car.</p><p data-block-key=\"dztei\">Along the way, Spangle realized that law enforcement had begun to block streets, trapping protesters and Spangle on Schrader Boulevard near a parking lot just north of Sunset Boulevard. Fear and confusion took over the block, Spangle said.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7eek\">“This is kettling and we’re getting locked in here,” Spangle recalled thinking. “The thing to do is go out and loudly identify yourself as press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wzfst\">Spangle, who was wearing a helmet with the word PRESS on it, stepped into the middle of the street with a badge identifying him as press in one hand and his camera in the other.</p><p data-block-key=\"cy1ik\">“At the top of my voice, I very loudly announced, ‘Hey I’m a journalist,’” Spangle said. “‘What do you want me to do, officer?’”</p><p data-block-key=\"yq7n8\">But he received no response. Six or seven times he said he tried to the same effect. So Spangle turned and approached another line of officers in the same way. Five or six times more he identified as a journalist, he said. But still, there was no response. Spangle was trapped.</p><p data-block-key=\"zxs0a\">Shortly before 9 p.m., two officers approached Spangle and ordered Spangle to get on his knees and put his hands on the back of his head, he told the Tracker. He was then zip-cuffed.</p><p data-block-key=\"3dpsi\">“I let them do their thing,” Spangle said. “I said, ‘Hey sir, please look at my press badge. I’m here as a journalist. I’m covering the event. I’m complying.’” He told the Tracker that he tried to draw on his military experience to respond in a calm, professional manner to resolve what he assumed was a mistake.</p><p data-block-key=\"qnrla\">Officers brought Spangle to a fence where they were gathering others that had been arrested, he said. Spangle asked a journalist on the other side of the fence, which was outside the police cordon, to contact his editor at GQ about his arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"vdj8d\">After about thirty minutes, Spangle said he was taken to a transport vehicle along with other people who had been arrested. Officers performed a search of Spangle’s possessions and confiscated a small camera bag. But they left his cameras, press badge, and phone with him, Spangle said.</p><p data-block-key=\"niiwu\">Spangle said he never heard an officer acknowledge his repeated attempts to identify as a journalist. “I think there were efforts for those kinds of things to not be said out loud,” Spangle said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bil08\">As he got on the bus, he asked an officer to inform the supervisor he is a journalist, Spangle told the Tracker. The officer responded, “All I can say to you is you’ll be alright,” Spangle said. Spangle interpreted the answer as evidence that a bad command decision had been made to arrest everyone in the area, journalist or not.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ok42\">The bus drove around the city for hours, stopping at two other locations, until stopping to process the arrestees shortly before midnight at the parking lot of UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium, Spangle said. He was one of the last on the bus to be released on a charge of violating the Los Angeles County curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"u0024\">The university later issued a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UCLA/status/1268039753015812096\">statement</a> saying it was “troubled” that the stadium was used as a processing center “without UCLA’s knowledge or permission.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0j9w6\">Spangle said he was arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, who wear a distinct tan and green uniform that contrasts the dark blue worn by officers with the Los Angeles Police Department. Spangle said he was transported in a sheriff’s bus. He received a citation from the LAPD at a processing center in western Los Angeles and said he received his seized camera bag back with the citation.</p><p data-block-key=\"6nbv2\">Spokespeople for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and LAPD told the Tracker that they could not provide specific information on Spangle’s arrest because of the sheer number of arrests made during the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"0f0pu\">Footage from <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=257541868845433&ref=watch_permalink\">news</a> <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrsBu80BCE4\">helicopters</a> that night shows LAPD officers, assisted by sheriff’s deputies, attempting to contain multiple marches and scattered looting across Hollywood. Arrested individuals were boarded on to sheriff’s buses for transport. The LAPD arrested a record-breaking 585 people in Hollywood alone, NBC <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/2020-06-02-nationwide-protests-over-george-floyd-death-live-n1221821/ncrd1222691#blogHeader\">reported</a>, citing department officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"gduq0\">Officer Drake Madison, an LAPD spokesperson, suggested filing a public records request. On June 24, LAPD denied a <a href=\"https://www.muckrock.com/foi/los-angeles-91/los-angeles-arrest-record-for-photographer-robert-spangle-los-angeles-police-department-94146/\">records request</a> concerning Spangle’s arrest filed by journalist security expert Runa Sandvik with the collaborative reporting website MuckRock. In its response, LAPD said investigatory records are exempt from disclosure.</p><p data-block-key=\"gk1l0\">On June 8, <a href=\"https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/district-attorney-jackie-lacey-will-not-file-charges-curfew-violations-failure-disperse\">Los Angeles County District Attorney</a> Jackie Lacey announced that she would not prosecute citations for violating curfew or failing to disperse, while <a href=\"https://www.lacityattorney.org/post/feuer-takes-restorative-non-punitive-approach-outside-the-court-system-for-peaceful-protesters\">Los Angeles City Attorney</a> Mike Feuer said he would resolve cases involving peaceful protesters in a “restorative approach” outside of the court system.</p><p data-block-key=\"5apt7\">On June 10, the LAPD said it had assigned <a href=\"http://www.lapdonline.org/home/news_view/66668\">40 investigators</a> to examine “allegations of misconduct, violations of Department policy, and excessive force during the recent civil unrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wj2qm\">Spangle said he did not feel any bitterness toward the officers who were following orders. “They were professional; they were courteous,” Spangle said. “They did the wrong thing but they did it professionally and in a courteous way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aa9cq\">“Somewhere along the line there was a really bad call made,” Spangle said. He described it as, “press or whatever, it doesn’t matter, we’re arresting everyone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"biqro\">Rob Wilcox, a spokesperson for Feuer, told the Tracker that the office is in the process of sending thousands of declination letters to those arrested on curfew related charges. The letter says the office will use its prosecutorial discretion to not file criminal charges and invites the recipient to join a series of virtual conversations on law enforcement, bias, and injustice. Wilcox said 2,044 letters had been sent as of July 27 and the remainder will be sent by the end of the week.</p><p data-block-key=\"ixve0\">Spangle said as of July 27 he had not yet received the letter.</p><p data-block-key=\"s1chj\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/LA_Processing_Center_Courtesy_Rob.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2kjla\">Freelance photojournalist Robert Spangle captured this image of a Los Angeles processing center seen from the parking lot of UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium shortly after his arrest on June 1, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-07-22 15:22:00+00:00) Charges dropped against freelance photojournalist arrested amid curfew crackdown in Los Angeles"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
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"Robert Spangle (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photographer hit with projectile, tear gas while covering protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-hit-projectile-tear-gas-while-covering-protests-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-08T12:22:55.718731Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:37.289163Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:37.189737Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j6sr5\">Freelance photographer Amy Harris was hit by pepper balls shot by law enforcement officers while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"g72q1\">The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/ac63cb2f81e1adfba583451aee9115bf\">reported</a> that protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, both of whom were Black. Taylor was shot eight times in her Louisville home in mid-March by narcotics police who broke down her door. Floyd died on May 25, after a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest. Video of Floyd’s death has sparked protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"nog34\">Harris told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had been photographing peaceful protests for several hours around Jefferson Square Park when police officers, who had previously been present only on the roofs of surrounding buildings, began to appear on the ground to enforce a 9 p.m. curfew. At approximately 10:15, Harris said, officers lined up in riot formation and announced that everyone present was in violation of curfew and ordered them to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"0h33l\">The officers then began to shoot tear gas and pepper balls in all directions, according to Harris, and she was hit with a pepper ball. Both she and a nearby TV news crew, with whom she had paired up with earlier in the day for safety purposes, all felt the tear gas, she said. Harris said it was impossible to know whether they had been targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"jyygl\">Harris and the other journalists tried to flee but couldn’t tell which direction the projectiles were coming from and felt surrounded on all sides, she told the Tracker. Eventually, they were able to retreat. Harris said they heard the sounds of gunshots from the crowd while leaving.</p><p data-block-key=\"gud81\">The TV crew and their security team accompanied Harris to her car and she was able to leave the scene. Harris said she had bruising from the pepper balls but otherwise was uninjured in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"gl6mb\">The Louisville Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0u44e\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents — including others involving Harris — of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had 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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/harris_assault_0531_KY_.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9xsz2\">Photographer Amy Harris said she had been documenting protests around Louisville's Jefferson Square Park for several hours before she was hit with a projectile.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Amy Harris (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck by projectiles, then arrested while covering protest on Dallas bridge",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-projectiles-then-arrested-while-covering-protest-dallas-bridge/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-02T03:21:24.759560Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:31.068731Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:30.935517Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rczl6\">Police struck a Dallas journalist with projectiles, zip-tied his wrists and placed him under arrest while he was covering a protest march against police violence on a bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas, Texas on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4z0e8\">Steven Monacelli, a freelance writer on assignment for the <a href=\"https://dallasvoice.com/\">Dallas Voice</a>, an LGBT magazine serving north Texas, had been documenting the march of several hundred protesters from the Dallas County courthouse to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The evening of June 1 was the second that downtown Dallas was under a 7 p.m. curfew, from which members of the media were explicitly exempt.</p><p data-block-key=\"qjick\">On the bridge, police employed a <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-kettling-the-police-technique-used-in-george-floyd-protests-11591721558\">technique</a> known as “kettling” to hem in demonstrators from both sides. Monacelli was standing between the crowd and a police line, hugging one side of the bridge, when police began advancing towards the crowd, he said. One of the officers fired a wooden pellet, he said, which hit someone nearby before falling to the ground near Monacelli’s feet.</p><p data-block-key=\"26pjd\">Seconds later, Monacelli was hit by a projectile. “I just got hit in the leg,” he exclaims on a video recording of the incident, which he <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA6lRtthbgh/?igshid=eqfrzasewet9\">posted</a> to Instagram. A second projectile then struck his backpack and lower back. “They shot me twice, I’ve been shot twice with wooden pellets.”</p><p data-block-key=\"z0wi6\">Monacelli was wearing PRESS badges on his front and back, but said he didn’t have the opportunity to verbally identify himself as a member of the media before police fired on the crowd. He said it was dark on the bridge and very loud.</p><p data-block-key=\"43w0m\">Monacelli told the Tracker while he initially suspected the projectiles that hit him were made of wood, he now believes the object that hit the back of his left thigh was a canister of tear gas, because of the sound it made on the video and the size of his resulting bruise. “In various videos of the moment at which I was shot you can hear a loud ‘POP’ and then metal sounding ricochet,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevanzetti/status/1271290219669544960\">tweeted</a> days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"w9iq6\">The second projectile he believes was a green marking round, he said. Another freelance journalist on the bridge, Benjamin Diez, captured a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/benjamindiez_/status/1268024795452641281\">video</a> of Monacelli being hit, showing the round that hit Monacelli’s back and backpack gave off a puff of green dust on impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"cs11s\">Around ten minutes later, Monacelli was then detained with a group of protesters, despite his repeated declarations that he was a member of the media, he said. The officers demanded to see Monacelli’s laminated press credentials, which he didn’t have, and ignored his repeated invitations to view his LinkedIn profile on his phone, as well as his email exchanges with his editors.</p><p data-block-key=\"rd7ub\">“I'm reporting for the Dallas Voice, I've got the email from the editor. I'm a freelance journalist, so I can show you all the information...the magazine I'm with,” he told the police, in a video he <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6qYUjhqhu/\">posted</a> to Instagram. He said he had emailed his editor, who he hoped would call the police. “Not sure what else I could do to show you who I am.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ubb2\">“What sort of credentials, when you ask me that, are you looking for?” Monacelli asked the officer standing before him. The officer replied that he wanted to see a press ID on a lanyard. "I'm stuck here because I don't have a laminated card," Monacelli then tells the viewers of his Instagram livestream.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgseg\">After detaining him over an hour, an officer placed him in zip ties at around 10:40 p.m. and told him he was under arrest. “Are you aware that I am a member of the press?” he said he asked the officer. In response, the officer replied, “you are under arrest,” Monacelli said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qb14g\">After midnight, an officer took him up on his invitation to look at his email messages with his editor and his LinkedIn page. Satisfied he was a journalist, the officer released Monacelli from the zip ties. He was released without charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbaky\">Later that morning, he snapped a photo of the newly formed bruise on the back of his leg, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevanzetti/status/1271274218748067842/photo/2\">posted</a> it to Twitter on June 11. Monacelli documented his experience on the bridge in a <a href=\"https://dallasvoice.com/the-ringing-in-my-ears/\">story</a> in the Dallas Voice and in a <a href=\"https://www.centraltrack.com/the-first-four-days-on-dpd-toys-early-protest-response/\">piece</a> for Central Track, a website covering Dallas culture.</p><p data-block-key=\"aswsu\">Ryan Michalesko, a staff photographer at the Dallas Morning News, was hit in the thigh with a foam round while covering the same protest on the bridge. That incident is documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-photojournalist-caught-crossfire-documenting-protesters-bridge/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"87b33\">Asked for comment on Monacelli’s arrest and the use of projectiles that led to his injuries, a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department, Sgt. Warren Mitchell, wrote, “We are not at a place we can speak on a specific incident during any nights of the protests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fvmls\">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 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=\"jcm7x\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Monacelli_arrest_0602.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cbpxp\">Steven Monacelli, left, was hit with projectiles and detained while covering protests in Dallas, Texas, on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on June 1, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Dallas Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:21-cv-02649",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"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": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-26 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist sues city of Dallas, officers after being struck by projectiles and arrested during 2020 protests",
"(2023-12-29 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist’s case against Dallas and police officers dismissed"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Steven Monacelli (Dallas Voice)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist choked, pushed in encounter with police officers while covering protest in Ohio",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-choked-pushed-encounter-police-officers-while-covering-protest-ohio/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-29T17:36:38.156494Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:52:31.020335Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:52:30.940747Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Cincinnati",
"longitude": -84.51439,
"latitude": 39.12711,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z156m\">Journalist Nick Swartsell said police officers grabbed and pulled him by the bandana around his neck as he reported on protests in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4rdt\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"65jj8\">Police officers began to arrest protesters in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, said Swartsell, news editor for the weekly publication CityBeat Cincinnati. When Swartsell and another journalist, Pat Brennan of the Cincinnati Enquirer, walked around the right side of a police vehicle to observe an arrest taking place near the intersection of West McMicken Avenue and Mohawk Place, an officer told them to move to the other side of the vehicle, Swartsell said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tmkyj\">While complying with the orders, Swartsell said an officer suddenly yanked him by the back of the bandana tied around his neck, and pulled him backwards. The journalist was pulled so forcibly, he said, that he was choked by the bandana and felt like he couldn't breathe for several seconds. He was then pushed into a crowd of officers with shields who shoved him off to the side.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police grabbing media. I was grabbed by my bandana from behind and pulled into a group of officers as they approached me. An enquirer reporter just hauled off. <a href=\"https://t.co/cNreMVFgyH\">pic.twitter.com/cNreMVFgyH</a></p>— Nick Swartsell (@nswartsell) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1267612155840528385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"65fgq\">Swartsell told the Tracker that he momentarily glimpsed body armor but otherwise couldn’t see the officer who had pulled him. He also said that he was unaware of body camera footage that captured the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1lf2\">The force of the assault left red marks around Swartsell’s neck for several hours but he told the Tracker that he was otherwise uninjured. He immediately resumed reporting on the arrests. The journalist is covering the protests pro bono for CityBeat while on furlough due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rtkr\">The Enquirer’s Brennan was then <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-enquirer-journalist-detained-cameras-roll/\">forcibly detained</a> by police, which the Tracker documented separately.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vdw3\">The Cincinnati Police Department did not return requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xal7y\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nick Swartsell (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist hit by multiple individuals while broadcasting live from Times Square",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-multiple-individuals-while-broadcasting-live-times-square/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-26T14:13:21.903653Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:22.446602Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:22.370259Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9nugp\">Hasanuzzaman Saki, a journalist for the Bengali-language news organization Somoy TV, was attacked by individuals in New York City on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"snty4\">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=\"yt2ee\">According to an <a href=\"https://en.somoynews.tv/Somoy-TV-journo-attacked-during-live-coverage-of-protests-in-New-York/news/8468\">interview</a> the journalist gave to Somoy TV, Saki was in Times Square around 11 p.m. doing a standup to camera when he was attacked. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=c9j2eAF5n2A&feature=emb_logo\">video of the incident</a> published on YouTube, he can be seen in front of a line of people, all wearing face masks. One smacks him on the back of the head while walking by; then, a second person takes a swing at him. Saki said the individuals also attacked his cameraperson and tried to confiscate the camera, but the Tracker was unable to independently verify that information. He added that he identified himself as a member of the media, was wearing a press pass and holding a microphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1g2c\">It’s unclear who the attackers were or what their motivations were.</p><p data-block-key=\"arwki\">“I never thought that I, myself, would become the news,” Saki told Somoy TV, according to an <a href=\"https://tbsnews.net/world/us-protesters-beat-somoy-tv-journalist-camera-87934\">English-language write-up</a> of the interview on TBS News, a site that focuses on Bangladesh.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqnv7\">Somoy TV and Saki did not respond to a request for an interview. The New York Police Department did not immediately respond when asked if this incident had been reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"crtnn\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had 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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{
"title": "Dallas Morning News photojournalist caught in crossfire documenting protesters on bridge",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-photojournalist-caught-crossfire-documenting-protesters-bridge/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-25T20:59:04.260469Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:04.919495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:04.828318Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m7pi6\">A newspaper photographer was struck in the thigh by a foam round while documenting protesters hemmed in by law enforcement on a bridge in Dallas, Texas, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mob7i\">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=\"7kqeb\">June 1 marked the second night of downtown Dallas’ 7 p.m. curfew, from which journalists were expressly excluded.</p><p data-block-key=\"lsv8o\">At around 9 p.m., Ryan Michalesko, a staff photojournalist at the Dallas Morning News, was photographing a group of several hundred protesters who’d marched from the county courthouse to the <a href=\"https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/santiago-calatrava-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge-article\">Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge</a>, an architectural landmark that spans the Trinity River and connects downtown and west Dallas.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3772\">A police line began to form across the bridge, Michalesko told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email. “Over their speakers they ordered the protesters to stop moving forward and turn around. At this point many of the protesters took a knee with their arms in the air,” he wrote. Police then deployed canisters of smoke into the crowd, followed by tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"yojbt\">Police in gas masks and riot gear began advancing on protesters from both sides of the bridge, employing a <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-kettling-the-police-technique-used-in-george-floyd-protests-11591721558\">technique</a> known as “kettling” to hem them into a small area. As protesters came to realize what was happening, Michalesko turned toward them, exposing his back to police, he told the Tracker. “I knew at that moment it was important I find a way to capture the fear in people’s eyes as they found themselves trapped,” Michalesko wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"bx088\">As he took photos, he regularly looked back over his shoulder at police. “This is when I was struck with a less-lethal round in the back of my upper thigh. I felt it hit, realized what had happened as I watched the blue-tipped projectile bounce across the ground,” he continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4zxi\">Michalesko was wearing press credentials, holding a camera and had another camera around his neck. But the shot came from 25 feet away, he estimated, putting him too far from police to be identifiable as press. He was unable to identify to which agency the officer who fired the shot belonged.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxckq\">Police then began to command everyone on the bridge to lie down on their stomachs, before firing foam rounds and other projectiles. “I could tell they were aiming these at the ground near people’s feet,” he wrote. Michalesko complied with police commands and continued to snap photos of the moving line from his stomach. “I also felt like the officers were at this point still too far away for me to face them and attempt to declare myself as press. I had already been hit once and didn’t want it to happen again,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f2ew5\">When he saw an officer nearby, he shouted, “I am a photojournalist with the Dallas Morning News. Don’t shoot!” He then asked if he could stand up and continue to take photographs. According to Michalesko’s recounting, the officer said yes, before adding the caveat, “But if I tell you to move, you need to move quick.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7h2b3\">Michalesko continued to work, filming and photographing the scene as police zip-tied protesters’ hands and lined them up. He observed members of the Dallas Police Department, state troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, National Guardsmen and FBI agents as protesters were being detained and processed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police have surrounded the protesters on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and are arresting everyone. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dallasnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dallasnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/OtnOvPE6wl\">pic.twitter.com/OtnOvPE6wl</a></p>— Ryan Michalesko (@photosbylesko) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/photosbylesko/status/1267643703763623936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"1zd1v\">Some 674 protesters on the bridge were cited with obstructing a freeway and released, the Dallas Morning News <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2020/06/02/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-demonstrators-broke-law-when-they-walked-onto-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge/\">reported</a>, but those charges were all later <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2020/06/04/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-protesters-who-marched-on-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge-will-not-be-charged/\">dropped</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xw2o6\">When he returned home, Michalesko was able to inspect his bruise, describing it as “black, blue, and about the size of a baseball.” It remained sore for a full week, making sitting uncomfortable, he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whatever you want to call it: rubber bullet, foam bullet, less-lethal ammunition. I was hit in the rear with this on the bridge Monday night as I was caught between the police line advancing from the west and protesters. It still hurts to sit. <a href=\"https://t.co/GgWzpzvh6y\">https://t.co/GgWzpzvh6y</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/IX9kqd1Tqu\">pic.twitter.com/IX9kqd1Tqu</a></p>— Ryan Michalesko (@photosbylesko) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/photosbylesko/status/1269073413030764544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"nkux6\">A slideshow of Michalesko’s photos from the evening can be seen <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2020/06/02/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-demonstrators-broke-law-when-they-walked-onto-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"i38l3\">Melinda Gutierrez, a spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department told the Tracker, “Not having specific details from the person involved and taking in to account the atmosphere, it’s challenging to provide a comment about an incident that is unfamiliar.” A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety wrote in an email that the agency “did not use any less lethal projectiles (e.g. rubber munition) during the protests on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on June 1.” The Texas National Guard did not return an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"y3o5t\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter 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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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rgfh2\">Police surround and detain hundreds of protesters on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas on June 1, 2020. Dallas Morning News photojournalist Ryan Michalesko was hit with a projectile while reporting.</p>",
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"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with projectile, camera destroyed amid Philadelphia protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-projectile-camera-destroyed-amid-philadelphia-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-23T13:57:55.777166Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:06.321085Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:06.204404Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9wi1\">Independent photojournalist Joe Piette was shot by law enforcement officers with a projectile that injured his hand and destroyed his camera while covering protests in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"y6xcy\">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=\"4csd4\">Piette told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was photographing protesters as they poured onto the I-676 highway, halting traffic in both directions at around 5 p.m. Minutes later, Piette said, Philadelphia police began firing tear gas into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"zo0q6\">“I was one of many people who ran up a grass embankment through a lot of gas fumes to street level,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m6dbp\">Piette told the Tracker that once he was out of the gas, protesters helped pour water into his eyes and he crossed to the other side of the expressway, where there were very few people.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs8id\">“From that vantage point, I had a good view of police continuing to shoot [crowd-control munitions] at protesters as they tried to flee up an embankment and over a 10-foot-tall fence,” Piette said. “I took a few photos, and suddenly my camera was shot out of my hands and I felt a lot of pain in my right hand.”</p><p data-block-key=\"91yx3\">After looking at his photos the following day, Piette saw that his second-to-last image shows an officer on top of a tank approximately 20 feet from him. Piette told the Tracker that he assumes that is the officer who shot at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ry7ay\">While Piette was not wearing any press identifiers, he told the Tracker that the officer had no cause to shoot at him, as he was standing away from the disturbance and with no other people around him.</p><p data-block-key=\"5h57f\">“The camera is totaled. The glass was shot out of the lens. The in-camera flash is stuck in the up position. When I turn on power, nothing happens,” Piette said.</p><p data-block-key=\"exnt5\">Piette told the Tracker that he went to the hospital to have his hand X-rayed. While it was not broken, he said that it was discolored, sore and swollen.</p><p data-block-key=\"opxgd\">“This is an attack on the press, a clear violation of the Constitution. I have a right, as every citizen does, to film and report on police activities, especially when the police are violating the rights of peaceful protesters,” Piette said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4wo9\">In a late-night statement on June 1, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that officers had no choice but to use tear gas after the protest turned violent, <a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/george-floyd-protests-philadelphia-gas-police-vine-street-expressway-20200601.html\">according to</a> the Philadelphia Inquirer.</p><p data-block-key=\"9x2uc\">WHYY <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/philly-police-say-tear-gas-used-because-676-protest-turned-hostile-but-theres-no-evidence-that-happened/\">reported</a> that there does not appear to be evidence to support those claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"f4c2q\">Neither Mayor Kenney nor the Philadelphia Police Department responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"sgc7u\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had 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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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"73lta\">Photojournalist Joe Piette captured this image of Pennsylvania police officers using crowd-control ammunition during a protest on June 1, 2020, moments before he was hit with one of the projectiles.</p>",
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]
