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{
"title": "Journalist caught in chemical irritants and threatened with arrest while covering Rochester protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-chemical-irritants-and-threatened-with-arrest-while-covering-rochester-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-25T18:11:12.899872Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:48.395945Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:48.293807Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"37avl\">Freelancer Vanessa J. Cheeks was caught in crowd-control agents and threatened with arrest while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 4, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2a1l\">For the third straight night, demonstrators had marched in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> while in the custody of Rochester police in March; details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2. The protest was just one of many held across the nation throughout the summer in protest of police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"q4ds6\">In a phone interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Cheeks, who also works as a news producer for WROC-TV, the city’s CBS affiliate station, said that when she’d arrived near the Court Street Bridge on the evening of Sept. 4., the situation between protesters and law enforcement was tense. At 10:53 p.m. the journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cheeksv/status/1302077289715437568\">tweeted</a> a video in which the Rochester Police Department could be heard declaring the gathering “an unlawful assembly” and ordering the crowd to disperse. Two minutes later, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cheeksv/status/1302077961487683588\">posted</a>, “Pepper balls man.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ht08w\">Cheeks told the Tracker she “definitely got the pepper in my face and threw up a couple of times.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rawde\">As the demonstrators moved away from the bridge and headed east toward MLK Park, Cheeks said members of the media took to a nearby building’s terrace to cover the scene. At 12:18 a.m., she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cheeksv/status/1302098876837629952\">tweeted</a>, “Things escalated. We got tear gassed.” Cheeks told the Tracker that she believed that the police did not take into account the members of the media in the crowd while targeting their less-lethal munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjhru\">She said she saw police shooting pepper balls up to the terrace as reporters were ducking behind trees to avoid them. “You can absolutely tell, we are not protesters,” she said, adding, “We were not up there with protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hynxw\">She said that as she ran from the area to avoid the tear gas and pepper ball fire, she encountered WROC photographer Patrick Riley and the station’s security guard. She said that the group watched a line of police officers walking past the park and identifying individuals they wanted to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"ley4y\">At 12:45 a.m., Cheeks <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cheeksv/status/1302105508036448256\">tweeted</a> that she heard an officer state, “Individual in white shirt, backpack. Move or you’ll be subject to arrest.” She said she fit that description and was baffled that the officer couldn’t tell that she was a member of the press. Cheeks had a press badge around her neck and says Riley was clearly identifiable as press. She said she held up her press badge to identify herself and that the officer did not act on the threat.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujaw1\">The Rochester Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"u74sn\">Two Democrat and Chronicle photographers were also hit by less-lethal munitions on Sept. 4. Find all <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Rochester&state=38\">incidents in Rochester, New York, here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2rir\">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 Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Vanessa J. Cheeks (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "Democrat and Chronicle photographer hit with projectile during Rochester protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/democrat-and-chronicle-photographers-hit-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-protests-in-rochester/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-25T17:56:30.942859Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:33:12.329508Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:33:12.249293Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9vxup\"><a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/</a>Democrat and Chronicle photographer Jamie Germano said he was hit with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 4, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcesw\">Demonstrators that night had marched to the city’s Public Safety Building in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> while in the custody of Rochester police in March. Details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2. The protest was just one of many held across the nation throughout the summer in protest of police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"ogl70\">Germano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the police rushed the protesters to push them back over the Court Street Bridge and then began with a volley of pepper balls. He said he was hit in the legs and hands, and pepper ball residue got on his camera, but he didn’t notice until he’d gotten home that night. Each time that he lifted the camera to his face to take a picture, he said, his eyes and face burned.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vgae\">Germano said that he “was never trying to get in the way” and that he felt like “collateral damage” due to his closeness to protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ggetl\">The Rochester Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"tc282\">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><p data-block-key=\"wojrr\">Find all <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Rochester&state=38\">incidents in Rochester, New York, here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Germano_camera_090520.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5w9e1\">Democrat and Chronicle photographer Jamie Germano’s camera was coated with pepper ball powder during September 2020 protests in Rochester, New York. The residue burned his face each time he took a picture, he said.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jamie Germano (Democrat and Chronicle)"
],
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},
{
"title": "New York Times barred from press briefing call on warrantless surveillance ruling",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-barred-from-press-briefing-call-on-warrantless-surveillance-ruling/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-23T21:33:43.537347Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T21:35:35.955828Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T21:35:35.852949Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fxfx0\">The New York Times said it was barred from attending a press briefing call organized by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Sept. 4, 2020, in apparent retaliation for an article published by the New York Times Magazine.</p><p data-block-key=\"sav50\">The Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/us/politics/court-approves-warrantless-surveillance-rules-while-scolding-fbi.html\">reported</a> that then-director John Ratcliffe organized an embargoed press briefing with his office’s chief privacy officer and officials from the FBI and NSA following a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruling on the FBI’s warrantless surveillance programs. Such briefings are routine when the government declassifies technically or legally complex documents about surveillance programs, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"uetlo\">According to a letter sent by Times deputy general counsel David McCraw to the ODNI on Sept. 15, reporters from the Times were not told about the call, while reporters from the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and other new organizations were invited.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2nxi\">According to the Times, someone familiar with internal deliberations at the ODNI said that Ratcliffe had ordered his communications staff not to speak to the outlet after the magazine published a <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html\">piece</a> in early August about pressure from the White House to downplay intelligence reports about Russian efforts to influence the 2020 election.</p><p data-block-key=\"xipln\">“This exclusion was unwarranted,” McCraw wrote. “To our knowledge, ODNI has invited New York Times reporters — along with reporters from the Post and Journal — to join every multi-agency briefing on newly declassified materials since it began doing the briefings in 2013.</p><p data-block-key=\"uajmz\">“We ask that ODNI provide written assurance by September 30, 2020, that The Times will be put back on the list of news organizations invited to join briefing calls. If no assurance is forthcoming by then, we will explore our legal options.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hsrt0\">Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the outlet received no official response from the ODNI.</p><p data-block-key=\"h8euk\">When reached for comment, Amanda Schoch, Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Strategic Communications for the ODNI, said via email she could not comment on legal discussions.</p><p data-block-key=\"to84g\">“However, we have robust and ongoing engagements with the New York Times and its reporters,” Schoch wrote. “A free and fair press is a cornerstone to our democracy and the ODNI is committed to fostering productive relationships with reporters to inform the American people.”</p></div>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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"targeted_institutions": [
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist says he was targeted with pepper balls while covering a protest in Rochester",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-he-was-targeted-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-a-protest-in-rochester/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-25T19:30:58.387854Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T20:23:19.381949Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T20:23:19.318613Z",
"date": "2020-09-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"czo3c\">Photojournalist Zach Roberts was hit multiple times with pepper balls and another crowd-control irritant fired by law enforcement as he covered a protest against police brutality in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 3, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"61afn\">Demonstrators took to the streets in Rochester to demand justice for Daniel Prude, a Black man who died in March after Rochester law enforcement pinned him to the ground and he lost consciousness. Prude, who had a history of mental illness and was naked and in distress at the time, died in hospital a week later. Law enforcement body camera footage released months later, on Sept. 2, sparked protests against police handling of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"es7db\">A day after the footage was released, demonstrators had gathered outside the Rochester Public Safety Building. Roberts said he was covering the gathering when police — standing behind a metal fence at the building — began firing a crowd-control irritant into the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"e84uz\"><a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/04/nyregion/rochester-protests-daniel-prude.html\">According to the New York Times</a> it was unclear what prompted the law enforcement action. “Unfortunately, I was nailed with that pretty quickly,” Roberts told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “It was like indiscriminate, it was basically like they were spray-painting a wall,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uec9t\">When protesters tried to move the metal fence, officers fired the irritant again, according to the Times account.</p><p data-block-key=\"uddoc\">Roberts, who was photographing for the international agency NurPhoto, based in Italy, said he had not expected any violence and was not wearing protective gear. That night he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/zdroberts/status/1301724257349767169\">tweeted that “this was one of the more violent things I've seen in my years in journalism.”</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rochester Police just retook the fence in space with a full court charge with about a hundred officers using rubber bullets. And pepper bullets. This was one of the more violent things I've seen in my years in journalism. Almost every single person here is affected I got hit too. <a href=\"https://t.co/y4zqUhEMpB\">pic.twitter.com/y4zqUhEMpB</a></p>— Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/zdroberts/status/1301724257349767169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"uurmj\">According to Roberts, officers began pushing people away from the public safety building and chasing after them as they fled. “They did it in such a chaotic way, no direction, no warning,” said Roberts. “I asked multiple times, where do you want us to go and there was nothing, no response from police officers,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"tmbig\">Roberts said that in the chaos, police rushed at the crowd, firing pepper balls as they pushed people across the street, into a parking lot and then onto an overpass. “That’s when the shocking amount of violence occurred,” Roberts said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6xhw\">Roberts said that as he took photos of protesters, he was wearing press credentials, yelling “press” to identify himself to police and carrying two cameras that he felt made him clearly identifiable as a journalist. He said he was hit in the back at one point as officers yelled at him to move away. “There is basically no way that they didn’t know that I was a journalist,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9363\">According to Roberts one of his cameras was hit with pepper pellets but not damaged. “I assume they were aiming for me, I mean, maybe they were aiming for the cameras, I don’t know which one is better.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ztjw\">Roberts said he did not seek medical care for pain and bruises and suffered no long-term health issues. He said he also did not file a complaint against Rochester police.</p><p data-block-key=\"v1t1a\">The captain of the Rochester Police Department responded to a Tracker query, saying that the department is “going to start an internal review of the incident.”</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
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},
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Photographer hit with pepper ball during Rochester protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-hit-pepper-ball-during-rochester-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-15T20:20:32.535253Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:21:47.103436Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:21:47.025103Z",
"date": "2020-09-03",
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"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tgkt1\">Democrat and Chronicle photographer Tina MacIntyre-Yee was hit in the helmet with a pepper ball shot fired by law enforcement while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 3, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6cc0a\">Demonstrators had marched that day to the Public Safety Building in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> in police custody in March; details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"0hiby\">In a phone interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, MacIntyre-Yee explained that she had been called in as the protest “was getting bad” and was told to “bring protection” because the police had been shooting pepper balls. She brought along a bike helmet, which she said she put on nearly immediately upon approaching the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"n9yxy\">At 11:19 p.m. she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tyee23/status/1301721508138672129\">tweeted</a> that the police in front of the PSB responded to a thrown water bottle with a “volley of pepper balls.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qzo7n\">A few minutes thereafter, police went inside the PSB and protesters proceeded to remove the perimeter of fence barricades and advance toward the building, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301722771932819457\">video</a> captured by MacIntyre-Yee’s colleague Will Cleveland. Just before 11:30 p.m., according to Cleveland’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301723059020345346\">Twitter feed</a>, “Police are exiting the PSB with helmets and shields now. It looks like they went inside to get new gear.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w8sdk\">MacIntyre-Yee told the Tracker that, when she saw the protesters’ advance, she quickly moved away, assuming that they would soon be shot at. MacIntyre-Yee said she moved to the left of the roughly 100 individuals who’d gathered and thought that the police could “clearly see that I was media but who knows.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ufp7e\">She said she was wearing all black, coincidentally matching several of the protesters, but had tried to lean over a cement wall surrounding the building with her camera in an obvious way to highlight the fact that she was there in a journalistic capacity.</p><p data-block-key=\"hoxhy\">Soon, there was an outburst of pepper ball fire. MacIntyre-Yee described to the Tracker how the shooting began at the end of the police line directly across from the protesters and rippled down to where she was. While behind a cement barricade, MacIntyre-Yee filmed the scene, including the moment she was hit.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got hit in the head but had helmet, then got pinned down finally they told me to leave <a href=\"https://t.co/eleEggEbXd\">pic.twitter.com/eleEggEbXd</a></p>— Tina MacIntyre-Yee (@tyee23) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tyee23/status/1301723839190179840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"om2j8\">She told the Tracker that officers soon came up to the wall she was hiding behind and yelled at her to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"biyjf\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tyee23/status/1301724881609003015\">picture</a> posted of her helmet minutes later shows a mark where the pepper ball hit. Even after brushing away the powder, MacIntyre-Yee told the Tracker that there was a permanent scratch. Fortunately, she said, she was uninjured and continued to report.</p><p data-block-key=\"jozw4\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
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},
{
"title": "September: Journalists tear-gassed, harassed and threatened with arrest while covering national protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/september-journalists-tear-gassed-harassed-and-threatened-arrest-while-covering-national-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-12T22:24:22.305980Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:37:33.351114Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:37:33.236572Z",
"date": "2020-09-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wdevt\"><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. during September 2020. Protests in Portland, Oregon, were particularly acute in the summer of 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented incidents that occurred there in a separate</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-while-reporting-protests-city-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/\"><i>roundup</i></a><i>.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"t4ayg\"><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 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><p data-block-key=\"om89v\"><b>Sept. 3, 2020 - Sept. 4, 2020</b></p><p data-block-key=\"2knjd\">In Rochester, New York</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"pmdb8\"><b>Will Cleveland</b>, a reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle, a Rochester-based daily, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301716893317902341\">tweeted</a> just after 11 p.m. that he was a block from the Public Safety Building and that “the air is filled with pepper ball spray residue.” Demonstrators had marched by PSB in protest a day after details were released surrounding the March death of Daniel Prude while in police custody, including police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a>. In a phone interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Cleveland described how a cloud of pepper spray seemingly stretched for half a block and was all but unavoidable around the PSB. Cleveland told the Tracker that he, while wearing his press badge, had removed himself from the crowd of protesters and stood “on the side by myself getting footage [with] a better vantage point.” At 11:50 p.m., he tweeted that police had <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301729744807960579\">fired</a> pepper balls directly at him. He told the Tracker that he did not know whether he was targeted, but that he was standing removed from the crowd of protesters with his press badge visible. Around 12:30 a.m., Cleveland <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301741202446979072\">tweeted</a> that officers had begun to advance on the demonstrators. Cleveland told the Tracker that he tried to maintain open communication with the officers so that he and other journalists from the Democrat and Chronicle — including executive editor <b>Michael Kilian</b> and reporters <b>Adria Walker</b> and <b>Natalia Rodríguez Medina</b> — would not be in the way of the advance. At one point an officer yelled at the group of journalists, saying that if they didn’t get out of the way, they would be arrested. Cleveland tried to “stand [his] ground” and explain that he was acting as a reporter, protected by the First Amendment. He said he was not worried about actually being arrested, and continued to report <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301754048010485760\">until 1:30 a.m.</a>, when the area <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301749803412586497\">had cleared of</a> police and protesters.</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 just fired directly at me. I’m standing alone, just filming <a href=\"https://t.co/bliFSD8m0L\">pic.twitter.com/bliFSD8m0L</a></p>— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301729744807960579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Officers advancing now — saying MOVE <a href=\"https://t.co/eHawl93iDa\">pic.twitter.com/eHawl93iDa</a></p>— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WillCleveland13/status/1301741202446979072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"63a1k\"><b>Walker</b> and <b>Medina</b> were also caught in chemical irritants while reporting on the protests and a vigil for Prude. Around 10:20 p.m. on Sept. 3, Walker <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301706699678638080\">noted</a> on Twitter that tear gas had been fired into the crowd, which she soon <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301706828758372353\">followed</a> with “My eyes are burning. People are coughing and removing masks” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301706936568688640\">and</a> “Cops are advancing using hose with pepper spray?” A little before 10:30 p.m., she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301708381376348161\">wrote</a>: “They’re firing again. Still windy. Medics are treating people. I and @nataliarodmed [Medina] are coughing. She also got some in her eyes.” Around 12:45 a.m., Walker <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301743564783669249\">tweeted</a>, “Tear gassed again. I got hit badly. My eyes, my nose, my throat. Whew. This is awful.” A minute later, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301743904920866816\">noted</a> that she’d taken “a direct hit” and was “better now.” Later that morning, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301745381462638594\">made</a> a correction that it was not tear gas, but either pepper balls or mace that had been fired at 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\">Tear gassed again. I got hit badly. My eyes, my nose, my throat. Whew. This is awful.</p>— adria r. walker (@adriawalkr) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adriawalkr/status/1301743564783669249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"tazrg\">On Sept. 4, independent photojournalist <b>Chris Baker</b> says he was unlawfully ordered to disperse by police while covering the third day of protests following Prude’s death. Baker was with other members of the press, situated off the Court Street Bridge. He later posted a video of police officers approaching the group, telling them to disperse. One officer asks for press credentials, but seconds later another officer can be heard saying, “It doesn’t matter, you’re all leaving.” As an independent journalist, Baker didn’t have press credentials, but he explained in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/christopher.baker.94402/videos/10100672205656973\">Facebook post</a> that he understood that “officers are nervous and jumpy, but that doesn't negate the First Amendment, or give them the authority to try and intimidate members of the media.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pepperballed by Rochester PD on the river walk separate from the protest I engaged officers. "doesn't matter who you are you're going home." (yes, i forgot credentials). <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FreedomofPress?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FreedomofPress</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/evandawson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@evandawson</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/david_andreatta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@david_andreatta</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DandC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DandC</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Reuters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Reuters</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AP</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nytimes</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/News_8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@News_8</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/13WHAM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@13WHAM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Sifill_LDF</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/5TZXXgrIoB\">pic.twitter.com/5TZXXgrIoB</a></p>— Chris Baker- Digital Media Producer (@HHCreativeNY) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HHCreativeNY/status/1303004336113487873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"i0u0m\"><b>Sept. 7, 2020</b></p><p data-block-key=\"qul1v\">In Salem, Oregon</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"y4f0x\">New York Times Seattle bureau chief <b>Mike Baker</b> was verbally threatened with violence while covering a pro-Donald Trump rally in the Oregon capital. Trump supporters, including members of the far-right groups Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, had driven to the Capitol that afternoon after having gathered in Oregon City, a suburb of Portland, some 40 miles to the north. Some in the crowd had guns and other weapons. A smaller group of counterprotesters had gathered to oppose them. Baker had been following the rally throughout the day. He told the Tracker that at one point, as he was filming among the far-right protesters, he was confronted by men wearing black and yellow — colors often associated with and worn by members of the Proud Boys — who demanded to see credentials. As they remained unconvinced by a business card and the press markings on his body armor, Baker said he took out his phone to try to show them he really was a Times reporter. “One of them, they said something along the lines of ‘Put that away or I’ll make you wear it,’” he said. Baker said another man told him to leave and pointed across the street. Baker told the Tracker that at least one of the men confronting him was carrying a baseball bat. Later that afternoon, Baker said another person came up to him and “said something along the lines of ‘When the conflict gets to the point where gunshots are going to be fired, journalists are going to be the first ones targeted,’ or something like that.” At that same rally, independent journalist Brian Conley was shot with paint balls by one of the participants, an incident the Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-pro-trump-demonstration-hit-paintballs-oregon/\">here</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\">Now in Salem, where there are people on opposing sides of a street. Guns on the right-wing side and at least one bat on the left-wing side. A few Proud Boys demanded to see my credentials, and one made some threatening comments so that I would leave their side of the street. <a href=\"https://t.co/8YS0QDP66O\">pic.twitter.com/8YS0QDP66O</a></p>— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1303100022129479680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"kw42i\"><b>Sept. 23, 2020</b></p><p data-block-key=\"q7eei\">In Louisville, Kentucky</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"jzz1r\">Louisville was facing renewed protests after a grand jury announcement that only one of three officers involved in the March 13 killing of Breonna Taylor would face any kind of charges. In an attempt to guard against civil unrest, access to much of downtown was blocked off with barricades and a 9 p.m. curfew was set. At one point, Louisville Metro Police Department officers manning checkpoints entering downtown stopped <b>Ryan Van Velzer</b>, a reporter for WFPL, the city’s NPR affiliate, as he was driving three other journalists to the station’s offices. Van Velzer told the Tracker that an officer asked where they were going and Van Velzer explained that they were press and were headed to WFPL’s offices just down the street. Van Velzer said the officers asked for his press ID, as well as those of the other reporters in the car. “He basically said to me: ‘If you come back here with more people, we’re going to impound your car.’ And we were all pretty taken aback by that,” Van Velzer told the Tracker. “The first thing I told him was that I’m a reporter, I’m here with other journalists, I’m dropping them off at the station. So it was unequivocal that I was a journalist. I believe that his concern appeared to be, if I had to speculate, was that I was bringing down protesters who were not journalists downtown.” Freelance journalist <b>Maggie Jones</b>, who was in the car at the time, had only a business card and a non-press photo ID on her and told the Tracker the officer “definitely” did not like that. She did not recall the officer saying the car would be impounded — she said she was busy fishing out credentials during the conversation — but said she does remember them telling the journalists that they would not be allowed to pass into downtown again. The LMPD did not respond to a request for comment.</li><li data-block-key=\"yxkv5\">USA Today national political correspondent <b>Phillip Bailey</b> was threatened with arrest around 11 p.m. as he took photographs of police officers arresting a protester downtown. Bailey told the Tracker he had been at a hotel that evening filming an interview about Taylor’s death for a documentary before checking in on the protests. He said that as he was leaving the area to go to the offices of the Courier Journal — which is part of the USA Today Network and had been Bailey’s paper up until July — he was confronted by officers who were “screaming” at him, asking who he was and where he was going. Bailey said he identified himself as a reporter and showed his credentials before continuing on his way. Bailey said he quickly turned back after seeing officers arresting protesters. He said that as he was taking photos of an arrest, an officer shined a light on him. Bailey said the officer then said to him: “Move along or we’re going to arrest you, too.” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/phillipmbailey/status/1308964504416419841\">At 11 p.m., Bailey tweeted</a>: “@LMPD arrested this group of protesters at 5th & Liberty, and threatened me with arrest if I continued to take pictures even after I informed them I was a member of the press. #BreonnaTaylor.” Earlier in the day, interim police chief Robert Schroeder had said that members of the press were exempt from the curfew, a fact Bailey said he brought up with the officers who ordered him to disperse. Bailey said one officer told him to “take that up with Chief Schroeder.” “It’s one of those things where whatever the mayor or the police command say at press conferences doesn’t always apply to the officers on the ground. That seems to be the dangerous part: They either seem to not know or totally disregard what the rules are,” Bailey said. He said he believes officers were using a “bullying intimidation tactic” in ordering him to disperse and threatening him with arrest. “I certainly didn’t think I was immune from arrest,” he said. Two reporters from the Daily Caller — <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-held-12-hours-while-covering-louisville-protests/\">George Ventura</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-held-16-hours-while-covering-louisville-protests/\">Shelby Talcott</a> — were arrested in Louisville during the unrest, as was independent reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-reporter-arrested-while-covering-louisville-protest/\">Ian Kennedy</a>; all three cases have been documented by the Tracker. The LMPD did not respond to a 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\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/LMPD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LMPD</a> arrested this group of protesters at 5th & Liberty, and threatened me with arrest if I continued to take pictures even after I informed them I was a member of the press. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/kwEV7LJVEu\">pic.twitter.com/kwEV7LJVEu</a></p>— Philmonger (@phillipmbailey) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/phillipmbailey/status/1308964504416419841?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\"><p data-block-key=\"akd4x\"><b>Sept. 24, 2020</b></p><p data-block-key=\"7x8je\">In Minneapolis, Minnesota</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"wzd41\">While Minneapolis had seen regular protests since the death of George Floyd in May, on Sept. 24, <a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/protesters-police-face-off-in-downtown-minneapolis/572527911/\">demonstrators took to the streets</a> over the clearing of one of the city’s homeless encampments and the announcement the previous day of what they viewed as inadequate charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist <b>Aaron Lavinsky</b> told the Tracker that early in the protest organizers approached him requesting that he verbally commit to blurring out the faces in his photos, a practice he declined to comply with. Later that evening, as the protesters marched past U.S. Bank Stadium, they chanted “no more pictures,” according to Lavinsky’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ADLavinsky/status/1309312003211747328\">Twitter</a> feed. The journalist also noted: “An organizer just came up to me demanding I turn my cameras off. She threatened to snatch my camera me if I didn’t comply.” Lavinsky told the Tracker that an organizer again came up to him and asked him to stop taking photos and leave, telling him that she’d take his camera and smash it if he did not. “After that, a couple antifa types came up to me and they were, like, physically threatening me and said, ‘If you come any further, we’re going to put our hands on you, we’re going to break your gear,’” he told the Tracker. “They just kind of got really aggressive with me and I realized at that point it’s not worth it and I backed off.” Lavinsky told the Tracker he appeared to be the only mainstream media outlet following the protesters at that time and felt that some in the crowd were trying to exert control over how they were portrayed. “I was not there to necessarily advocate on their behalf. I was there to document and they knew that. So I don’t know exactly why they targeted me, but I get the impression that I’m not one of them and they know it,” he said. Lavinsky said he has been harassed at protests before but the situation he found himself in on Sept. 24 felt dangerous. “This time felt a little different,” he said. “Probably because I was alone at that point, it wasn’t a good situation. They really could have done some damage and there wasn’t much I could have done about 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\">Folks, I’m backing off. Multiple people threatening to take and break my cameras. Been berated most of the night by a small group of organizers and anarchists.</p>— Aaron Lavinsky (@ADLavinsky) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ADLavinsky/status/1309312003211747328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 25, 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\">Folks, I’m backing off. Multiple people threatening to take and break my cameras. Been berated most of the night by a small group of organizers and anarchists.</p>— Aaron Lavinsky (@ADLavinsky) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ADLavinsky/status/1309312003211747328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 25, 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=\"ao3c0\"><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> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/other-incident/?categories=63&date_lower=2020-05-25&tags=111\"><i>go here</i></a><i>.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1otee\">Police officers try to break up a fight between demonstrators outside the Capitol in Salem, Oregon on Sept. 7, 2020.</p>",
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"Media"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"court verdict",
"election",
"Election 2020",
"encampment",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
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},
{
"title": "Independent filmmaker sprayed with chemical agent in Kenosha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-sprayed-chemical-agent-kenosha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-08T15:28:48.616205Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:34:38.204770Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:34:38.123327Z",
"date": "2020-09-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oq9oh\">On Sept. 1, 2020, a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sprayed independent filmmaker Ashley Dorelus with a chemical agent after she knocked away his hand, according to Dorelus and video of the encounter. Dorelus, who said she has been traveling the country to make a film about the Black Lives Matter movement, said that she batted away the officer’s hand because he had inappropriately touched her.</p><p data-block-key=\"vudzv\">Dorelus told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was reporting in a Kenosha park that had become a gathering place for protesters after the Aug. 23 shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white police officer. She said that before the incident with the policeman, she was trying to interview a man who described himself as a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, and a woman accompanying him. Dorelus said that as she sought to ask the man questions about the Proud Boys, a crowd of protesters followed them, chanting “Proud Boys go home.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oi3uz\">One demonstrator also antagonized Dorelus, apparently because she was trying to interview the self-described Proud Boy. “You’re media, you’re media,” the demonstrator shouts at her <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CEnAvBYn0mi/?igshid=14aw5msgfp1ql\">in a video</a> that Dorelus live streamed on Instagram. A few minutes later, the video shows several police officers arriving to separate the man and the woman from the crowd. </p><p data-block-key=\"8is00\">As Dorelus, together with other members of the press, walks along close to law enforcement escorting the self-described right-wing activists, one of the officers shoves her away. “Hey that was my breast, don’t touch me,” she can be heard screaming, and then again: “don’t touch me,” right before the officer sprays her.</p><p data-block-key=\"lxb29\">The incident was also caught on camera by New York Times reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, who <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NickAtNews/status/1300911702373019650\">tweeted</a> the video, and it was later <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/us/politics/trump-conspiracy-theory-thugs-plane.html\">reported in The New York Times</a>. Bogel-Burroughs’ footage shows the officer, who is white, shoving away Dorelus, who is Black, and then spraying her after she swatted his hand. </p><p data-block-key=\"af5cc\">Dorelus said that she swiped at the officer’s hand because he had touched her inappropriately. “I’m a woman, you don’t think I know when a man touches my breast, come on,” she told the Tracker. Dorelus also said that she was wearing press credentials when she was sprayed. </p><p data-block-key=\"2io2b\">“I was trying to explain to the police, I was interviewing these people,” she said. “He could have just told me to step back, whereas his initial reaction was to mace me.” Dorelus said that her eyes were burning badly for two days and her head was also exposed to the spray.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sz97\">Dorelus said she did not file a complaint against the officer. The Kenosha Police Department has not responded to Tracker requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"rn5vz\">The same day Dorelus was sprayed and allegedly touched inappropriately, President Donald Trump visited Kenosha, where he offered support to law enforcement but did not speak about Jacob Blake or meet with his family members.</p></div>",
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"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"sexual assault"
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "ACLU files for ‘false imprisonment’ against Washington, D.C., police after photojournalist arrested, equipment seized",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-files-for-false-imprisonment-against-washington-dc-police-after-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-24T19:49:59.038607Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:35.611990Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:35.326208Z",
"date": "2020-08-31",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o67lt\">Oyoma Asinor, an independent photographer, was covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, 2020, when he was arrested by D.C. police and his camera and other equipment seized.</p><p data-block-key=\"di2qa\">According to an <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410.1.0.pdf\">ACLU of DC lawsuit</a> filed on Asinor’s behalf in August 2021, Asinor arrived around midnight at Black Lives Matter Plaza to cover a BLM protest and found Metropolitan Police officers with shields and helmets standing in front of St. John’s Church, where barricades had been set up.</p><p data-block-key=\"zlrbi\">Protesters stood directly in front of the barricades, chanting, as Asinor moved around the intersection of 16th and H Streets taking photographs.</p><p data-block-key=\"1uu9m\">A group of MPD officers formed a line in the intersection of 16th and H Street, across H Street, blocking people from moving east. These officers wore helmets, and several were equipped with gun-shaped weapons attached to small tanks, according to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"5b0an\">Asinor continued photographing the officers, standing with another photojournalist at the northwest corner of the intersection of 16th and H Streets.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h1vd\">As Asinor continued photographing, he saw a small item — believed to be a water bottle — thrown from behind him toward the officers at the barricades, the document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"09zwy\">Moments after the water bottle was thrown, an officer behind the 16th Street barricade walked up to the barricade and rolled a smoke munition onto 16th Street. The munition produced a large cloud of smoke on 16th Street, the ACLU said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i4wy5\">Around the same time, a police officer deployed at least one stun grenade near where Asinor was standing. The stun grenade produced smoke and a loud noise that Asinor found “terrifying and disorienting.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nv3xa\">Asinor walked north on 16th Street, where he found several small concrete blocks across the street and police officers lined up “and pointing, but not firing, cannon-shaped weapons at Mr. Asinor and the others near him,” according to the document.</p><p data-block-key=\"lzylm\">Asinor and a few other journalists and demonstrators stopped around ten feet away from the blocks.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vt96\">Demonstrators standing about five to seven feet behind Asinor threw two water bottles at the officers, which either missed them or landed near them harmlessly.</p><p data-block-key=\"19gmu\">Officers responded by shooting rubber bullets at the demonstrators. After that, Asinor did not see the demonstrators throw anything else or attack or threaten the officers in any way, according to the ACLU document.</p><p data-block-key=\"egdgg\">Then officers ran between the blocks, charging at Asinor and others who had stopped. Asinor had been facing the officers and taking photos, but he turned around to run north on 16th Street as soon as he saw them charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckxo4\">“A police officer sprayed liquid chemical irritants at Mr. Asinor and others running away. The spray hit Mr. Asinor, causing him to feel a burning sensation on his skin as he was running. He additionally felt a burning sensation in his nose, his eyes watered, and he had trouble breathing. Mr. Asinor had goggles with him, but he was not wearing them so that he could better use his camera,” according to the legal document.</p><p data-block-key=\"ldkeb\">As Asinor was running up 16th Street, Asinor and others became boxed in between officers moving north and south.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7xvs\">Asinor attempted to leave the area, but “one of the bike officers struck him in the chest with her arm and stopped him, before forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3e08s\">According to the document, Asinor told the officer that he was a member of the press multiple times, repeatedly telling her that he was carrying a camera for journalistic purposes; however, she did not allow him to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujuuh\">Another officer later told Asinor that he was being arrested for “felony rioting.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ja5en\">The ACLU document said “nothing Mr. Asinor did on August 30 or 31, 2020 provided probable cause to believe that he violated D.C. Code § 22-1322 or any other law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3zkkt\">After the arrest, an officer removed Asinor’s camera, cellphone and goggles. He was then taken to the second police district, where he remained in police custody overnight. He continued to feel the effects of the chemical irritants with which he had been sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"isba5\">According to <a href=\"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aclu-sues-dc-police-officers-over-tactics-used-on-journalists-covering-blm-protests/ar-AANfI83\">an MSN report</a>, the ACLU said: “MPD did not return these items for almost a full year, even though he requested them multiple times, and MPD had no lawful basis to keep them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dizvu\">Asinor was released after about 17 hours in custody, at which point he was informed that he would not face any charges, according to the document.</p><p data-block-key=\"of44f\">The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the D.C. government and the MPD officers claiming false imprisonment, assault and battery and unlawful use of chemical irritants, based on this incident and another with <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-sues-washington-dc-police-for-violating-photojournalists-rights-during-protests/\">independent photojournalist Brian Dozier</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"havar\">MPD told the Tracker they did not comment on ongoing cases.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP20244257485256.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dt98a\">A police officer kicks a smoke bomb at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on August 30, 2020. Photojournalist Oyoma Asinor sued the D.C. police after officers violently arrested him in the early hours of Aug. 31 and seized his equipment.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2020-08-31",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "1:21-cv-02158",
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{
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},
{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
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"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-08-29 13:08:00+00:00) Judge dismisses photojournalists’ lawsuit against DC government, police",
"(2024-08-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court reverses dismissal of journalist’s lawsuit against DC police"
],
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"ongoing"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
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"Oyoma Asinor (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist hit with rubber bullet while covering protests in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-hit-with-rubber-bullet-while-covering-protests-in-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T17:47:17.391540Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:25:13.612044Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:25:13.514102Z",
"date": "2020-08-31",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zujzm\">Freelance journalist Andrew Jasiura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1300373831492808704\">hit with a rubber bullet</a> while covering protests in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cxthh\">On the night of Aug. 30 and early hours of Aug. 31, Jasiura was covering protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in downtown Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cblq\">The journalist, who has been covering the protests for several months as an independent <a href=\"https://www.rxnin.life/jazzy\">photographer and filmmaker</a>, said he was in the pedestrian area outside of the White House that was <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/05/870833518/black-lives-matter-plaza-across-from-white-house-is-christened-by-d-c-leaders\">renamed</a> “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” when a police officer fired a smoke grenade. Jasiura said that based on his past experience covering protests, he believed the grenade was a warning that officers were going to begin firing tear gas. The journalist walked across the street to put on a sweatshirt with a hood and a gas mask for protection, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfq4w\">As he was bent over to put on the hoodie and gas mask, a rubber bullet hit him in the rear end, he told the Tracker. Police officers had begun to fire rubber bullets to clear protesters from the plaza, but Jasiura believed he was targeted because he was “50 feet away from the police line…. and nowhere near the protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w2a34\">In a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-while-covering-dc-protests/\">separate incident</a> on Aug. 13, Jasiura told the Tracker he was released after being detained by police officers for several hours when a Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant recognized him.</p><p data-block-key=\"h1zxa\">The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdyz0\">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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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Andrew Jasiura (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved by law enforcement in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-by-law-enforcement-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:29:25.336035Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:38.409453Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:38.295549Z",
"date": "2020-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1semx\">Independent journalist Nicholas Lee said he was pushed by law enforcement officers while documenting protesters getting arrested outside the Penumbra Kelly Building, in northeast Portland, Oregon on Aug. 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ey2no\">Lee was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"9wfyn\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"turjb\">The Kelly building has been a repeated focus of demonstrators because it houses the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and some Portland Police Bureau units. The Aug. 30 protest was declared an “unlawful assembly” at 10:40 p.m. after protesters threw rocks and eggs at officers, according to the local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-gather-in-ne-portland-at-kelly-building\">KATU news station</a>. Law enforcement officers pushed people to the west of the building, Lee told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hjnxm\">Lee was covering a confrontation between protesters and law enforcement across the street at around 11 p.m. when the incidents occurred.</p><p data-block-key=\"6of2o\">In a video posted to Twitter, an officer from the sheriff’s department is seen pushing back Lee, who was wearing a helmet and backpack marked as “press,” while telling him to “back up.” Lee can be heard responding, “I’m on the sidewalk.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">These protesters were just standing here before being targeted, attacked and kidnapped by unidentified men in black masks. Police would not let anyone leave the area before this happened. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@R3volutionDaddy</a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/econbrkfst?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@econbrkfst</a>, an NLG observer and myself where shoved, and shot here. <a href=\"https://t.co/KGWENDXRGY\">pic.twitter.com/KGWENDXRGY</a></p>— Soundtrack to the End (@_WhatRiot) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1300315083352887296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gp75b\">“[The officer] pushed me into a bush,” Lee said.</p><p data-block-key=\"v2zyy\">The MCSCO didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist hit with crowd-control round during DC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-hit-crowd-control-round-during-dc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-19T22:38:18.452062Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:00.758379Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:00.677466Z",
"date": "2020-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3s6sr\">Independent journalist Wyatt Reed was struck in the shoulder with a crowd-control munition while covering a protest in Washington, D.C., early on the morning of Aug. 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"jb2as\">Regular protests over racial justice held in Washington and across the country since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis were amplified by anger over the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In addition, thousands had gathered in the nation’s capital on Aug. 28 for the 57th anniversary of the civil rights era March on Washington.</p><p data-block-key=\"jxkiu\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is<a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions</a> to journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"2y4x2\">Marchers on the evening of Aug. 29 converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House, and protests continued into the morning of Aug. 30.<a href=\"https://dcist.com/story/20/08/30/dc-protests-after-march-on-washington-police-tactics/\"> According to DCist</a>, after 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 30, about 100 protesters gathered at the intersection of 16th Street and K Street Northwest, where police began using crowd-control rounds to disperse the crowd after a rock was thrown at them.</p><p data-block-key=\"k6ga4\">Reed, who is also a producer for the radio show By Any Means Necessary on Russian state-owned Radio Sputnik, was filming a confrontation between police and protesters at that intersection when he was hit in the left shoulder with a crowd-control munition.</p><p data-block-key=\"qr1q8\">“DC cops just shot me in the shoulder with a huge rubber round as I filmed them dousing everyone in a 25 ft radius with chemical spray,”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1299952136554459136\"> he tweeted</a> at 2:08 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"98jnl\">In a video he posted alongside the tweet, a police officer can be seen spraying a chemical irritant at protesters in a sweeping, indiscriminate fashion. Some of the spray appears to hit Reed. Then, the sounds of crowd-control rounds being fired can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"2eb91\">“Fuck, I just got fucking shot, they just fucking shot me, oh fuck,” Reed can be heard saying in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mq08\">A person who appears to be acting as a street medic rushes over to Reed and can be seen ripping open his left sleeve before saying “you’re good” and “that’s going to be a good scar.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is how DC cops have been treating journalists for 3 months <a href=\"https://t.co/esZMrHNhT8\">pic.twitter.com/esZMrHNhT8</a></p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1299953505793454081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4h72w\">Speaking to the Tracker, Reed described the projectile, which he picked up after, as a “rubber puck” that tore through his shirt as it hit his shoulder. When he was hit, he was standing near the front of the protest crowd, close to the line of police officers. He said he was wearing a press identification and believes he was targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"wm5fh\">Right before he was hit with the crowd-control round, Reed said he was peripherally sprayed with the chemical agent that can be seen being deployed in the video. However the rubber puck left a more painful and lasting injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkfw9\">“It was bruised for a few good weeks,” Reed said. “It left a fairly gnarly little scar.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1d5vz\">The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnwem\">Earlier at the same protest — late on the evening of Aug. 29 — Reed was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/august-while-reporting-protests-across-country-journalists-pepper-sprayed-threatened/\">sprayed with a chemical irritant</a> as police tried to clear protesters from H Street.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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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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"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, shot with pepper balls during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/three-independent-journalists-say-they-were-shoved-law-enforcement-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-04T16:36:51.865368Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:05.474805Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:05.364342Z",
"date": "2020-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"truh7\">Scott Keeler, an independent journalist, said he was shoved and shot with pepper balls by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in northeast Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"587il\">Keeler was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"ixyuc\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"23ktr\">Keeler was outside the Penumbra Kelly Building, which has been a repeated focus of demonstrators because it houses the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and some Portland Police Bureau units. The Aug. 30 protest was declared an “unlawful assembly” at 10:40 p.m. after protesters threw rocks and eggs at officers, according to the local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-gather-in-ne-portland-at-kelly-building\">KATU news station</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zpkhs\">Keeler was covering a confrontation between protesters and law enforcement across the street at around 11 p.m. when the incidents occurred. Video <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1300315083352887296\">posted</a> on Twitter by Keeler shows officers from the PPB and MCSO taking several protesters to the ground and arresting them.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">These protesters were just standing here before being targeted, attacked and kidnapped by unidentified men in black masks. Police would not let anyone leave the area before this happened. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@R3volutionDaddy</a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/econbrkfst?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@econbrkfst</a>, an NLG observer and myself where shoved, and shot here. <a href=\"https://t.co/KGWENDXRGY\">pic.twitter.com/KGWENDXRGY</a></p>— Soundtrack to the End (@_WhatRiot) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1300315083352887296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zvlow\">In a separate <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1300316901520728065\">tweet</a>, Keeler said he and other members of the press “were shot in the feet with pepper balls from no more than a foot away to force us to back despite being forced to stay in the completely confined space by another cop on the opposite side of the scrum.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tuuvj\">The MCSCO didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"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": [
"Scott Keeler (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist shoved by law enforcement in while covering protests in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-shoved-by-law-enforcement-in-while-covering-protests-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:28:51.512766Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:22.289382Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:22.202662Z",
"date": "2020-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hdsry\">Freelance journalist Alissa Azar was shoved and shot with pepper balls by law enforcement while documenting protesters getting arrested outside the Penumbra Kelly Building, in northeast Portland, Oregon on Aug. 30, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"nwtg6\">Azar was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"p6qmt\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rqsb\">The Kelly building has been a repeated focus of demonstrators because it houses the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and some Portland Police Bureau units. The Aug. 30 protest was declared an “unlawful assembly” at 10:40 p.m. after protesters threw rocks and eggs at officers, according to the local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-gather-in-ne-portland-at-kelly-building\">KATU news station</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"07pmv\">Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1300313375247745024\">tweeted</a> that she “got shot with a pepper bullet for recording an arrest, pushed down to the ground aggressively.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rl4mg\">Griffin Malone, another independent journalist, captured the scene from across the street in a video he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1300315878014160896\">posted</a> on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"bihc1\">The MCSCO didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Alissa Azar (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist hit with paintballs while covering a pro-Trump caravan in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-paintballs-while-covering-a-pro-trump-caravan-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:11:46.120523Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:36.340446Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:36.236299Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gh2wu\">Cory Elia, an editor at Village Portland and host of a KBOO podcast said he was hit with projectiles that he identified as paintballs while covering a pro-Trump caravan that went through downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"432kv\">Elia was covering the “Trump cruise rally,” which began at the Clackamas Town Center parking lot, about nine miles outside of Portland. Trump supporters were met with counterprotesters as they drove through the downtown, sparking confrontations, according to local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/hundreds-gather-at-clackamas-town-center-for-cruise-rally\">news outlet KATU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctiwu\">Oregon Public Broadcasting <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/30/portland-trump-cruise-rally-protest-rogue-river-pendleton/\">reported</a> online videos showing the “flag-adorned trucks driving through groups of protesters, firing paintball guns at crowds and deploying what appears to be pepper spray,” leading to “dangerous, tense confrontations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g5alr\">Elia tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910101684244480?s=20\">video</a> of a Trump flag-adorned truck driving away. “This truck start shooting at counter-protesters and then came under attack. I got shot right in the corner of my mouth by a projectile.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i1h2p\">Elia told the Tracker that they had been firing projectiles before his video even started and had been for quite a while. “I was struck in the cheek with the paintball and it left a small welt,” 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\">This truck start shooting at counter-protesters and then came under attack. I got shot right in the corner of my mouth by a projectile. <a href=\"https://t.co/iqcWgSgOFT\">pic.twitter.com/iqcWgSgOFT</a></p>— Cory Elia (@TheRealCoryElia) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910101684244480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"af4tk\">He also tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910622633537538?s=20\">photo</a> of an orange round, writing “This is the exact projectile that hit me. I’m good.” Elia said he had a large press marking on his bulletproof vest and several credentials around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"w2k5d\">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 that have broken out across the country in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p></div>",
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Cory Elia (Village Portland)"
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{
"title": "ACLU sues Washington, D.C., police for violating photojournalist’s rights during protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-sues-washington-dc-police-for-violating-photojournalists-rights-during-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-31T15:25:29.143156Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:29.713575Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:29.494977Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bt06d\">Bryan Dozier, an independent photojournalist, was covering Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29, 2020, when he was targeted by chemical irritants and stun grenades by Metropolitan Police officers, according to an American Civil Liberties Union of DC <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410.1.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a> filed on Dozier’s behalf.</p><p data-block-key=\"0uu2q\">In August 2021, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the D.C. government and the MPD officers, based on this incident and another involving independent photographer Oyoma Asinor. The Tracker documented Asinor’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-files-for-false-imprisonment-against-washington-dc-police-after-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized/\">arrest, assault and equipment seizure here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"uwt1w\">Dozier was documenting the BLM protests in central D.C. when police deployed chemical irritants and stun grenades, even though these tactics have been <a href=\"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aclu-sues-dc-police-officers-over-tactics-used-on-journalists-covering-blm-protests/ar-AANfI83\">banned by the D.C. Council</a> for dispersing protesters, according to the legal documents issued by the ACLU, and reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Dozier did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bad8o\">The Metropolitan Police Department’s use of <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-mayor-signs-police-reform-legislation/2369194/\">chemical irritants and stun grenades</a> violated the D.C. First Amendment Assemblies Act and D.C. common law, according to the ACLU.</p><p data-block-key=\"zrw4f\">On that day protesters gathered at about 7 p.m. and arrived at the junction of 16th Street and H Street NW, near Black Lives Matter Plaza, around 11 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"w0iu1\">At about 11.30 p.m. Dozier saw one of the officers closest to a barricade on H Street shove a demonstrator. When the protesters near the individual yelled at the officer, Dozier moved closer to film the incident, according to the document.</p><p data-block-key=\"5mpnw\">Dozier, whose work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, the Financial Times, and The Guardian, did not see any demonstrator touch the officers, throw objects at the officers, or do anything other than continue to verbally protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"2zp0o\">But a Metro Police officer who was standing farther west on H Street, by or behind the H Street barricade, released a munition into H Street. Dozier heard “a hissing sound, like pressure being released, and then saw some form of gas or smoke with chemical irritants ascend rapidly,” the report said.</p><p data-block-key=\"x625v\">The smoke prompted Dozier and many protesters to back farther away from the barricade. As protesters were moving back, a second officer released another munition, causing more smoke or gas with chemical irritants to fill the air.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhppi\">The document stated: “Despite Mr. Dozier’s attempt to retreat, the irritants made contact with him and caused him to cough. Dozier ran east on H Street toward its intersection with Vermont Avenue to escape. Many demonstrators started running in that direction too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dpwmp\">Near the intersection, Dozier saw officers wearing riot gear with helmets and batons marching forward in a line spanning the width of H Street. As Dozier was looking for an exit, the riot officers marched through the intersection and past him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pgkc\">But suddenly one police officer grabbed Dozier, “lifted him, and pushed him west on H Street, through the line of riot officers that had just passed by him, and back near the clouds of chemical irritants produced by the two munitions Mr. Dozier had been running from.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdivv\">Dozier was forced to continue west on H Street, through the clouds of irritants. He “struggled to breathe as he moved through the chemical irritants. He continued to cough, his nose ran, and he felt burning across his face. He continued west on H Street, then turned north onto 16th Street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0wy37\">Another officer began deploying a series of at least six stun grenades in close succession, near the intersection of 16th and H Streets. At that time, Dozier said he had not seen any protester make contact with officers, throw objects at them or engage in any violent behavior, the document reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ef70e\">Dozier, who was described in the document as terrified and disorientated, feared that “either the officers or explosive devices deployed by the officers” would hit him. At that point Dozier left the protest and went home.</p><p data-block-key=\"mbsxd\">For about 30 minutes after returning to his apartment, “he felt intense burning in his eyes and could feel the sting of the irritants in his nose and throat. He took a shower to wash off the irritants but continued to feel a burning sensation on his skin. After the shower, he dry heaved for approximately half an hour,” the document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"xr64q\">The Aug. 29 attack caused Dozier “significant psychological distress, the effects of which continue to this day.” The legal document reported that Dozier met with a psychologist after the incident, who noted that he had several symptoms consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that he continues to experience some of the PTSD symptoms, including “heightened sensitivity to loud noises, sudden, unexpected anxiety attacks, and a fear of being trapped with no ability to exit. He additionally continues bi-weekly therapy sessions, which help him deal with his PTSD symptoms.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y4enu\">MPD told the Tracker they did not comment on active cases.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l3iv4\">A police officer sprays chemical irritant at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on August 29, 2020. Photojournalist Bryan Dozier sued the D.C. police after his assault while documenting the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"updates": [
"(2022-08-29 12:50:00+00:00) Judge dismisses photojournalists’ lawsuit against DC government, police",
"(2024-08-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court reverses dismissal of journalist’s lawsuit against DC police"
],
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"ongoing"
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Social media journalist hit with projectile while covering DC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-hit-with-projectile-while-covering-dc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-08T14:04:59.168053Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:41.055108Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:40.963122Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3p444\">A social media journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was shot in the leg with a projectile while reporting on a protest in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mgrry\">Regular protests over racial justice held in Washington and across the country since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis were amplified by anger over the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In addition, thousands had gathered in the nation’s capital on Aug. 28 for the 57th anniversary of the civil rights era March on Washington.</p><p data-block-key=\"vl9j6\">The Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions</a> to journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"7icj6\">Marchers on the evening of the 29th converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House, and protests continued into the morning of the 30th.</p><p data-block-key=\"cggzk\">The journalist, who requested the Tracker identify him by his Twitter handle Rawsmedia, posts video and photos of protests on social media. He said he was covering the march as it ended at Black Lives Matter Plaza on the 29th.</p><p data-block-key=\"8zyow\">Between 9 and 10 p.m., he said, protesters gathered near barricades on the edge of the plaza. He said he suddenly heard police start to deploy flash-bang grenades and tear gas canisters, prompting the crowd to start running away.</p><p data-block-key=\"62r38\">Rawsmedia said he was trying to move out of the area when he was hit in the right shin near his ankle with a crowd-control projectile that he described as a rubber puck. The injury was extremely painful, he told the Tracker, and he needed to be carried out from the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"9b2fy\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1299932775408074754\">video posted on Twitter</a> by journalist Chuck Modiano shows Rawsmedia wearing a helmet and vest, both marked “PRESS,” being helped by a group of people toward a tent where protest medics were treating people, while someone asks for medical assistance for him.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police injure local journalist, bodies literally falling everywhere & running out of medics as flash-bangs go off. This is crazy. Forget the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchOnWashington?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MarchOnWashington</a>. Welcome to the real <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> last 90 days <a href=\"https://t.co/F2v5d2O6aK\">pic.twitter.com/F2v5d2O6aK</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1299932775408074754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mr50e\">Rawsmedia told the Tracker that medics put ice on his leg at the protest. He didn’t seek further treatment that night, but he decided to go to the hospital the next day. He said his wound was treated with seven stitches, and it took about three weeks to fully heal.</p><p data-block-key=\"3tv8z\">Rawsmedia said he believes he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said that in addition to having the word “press” written on his helmet and vest, he shouted out to identify himself as a journalist. He said that he was in a gap in the crowd at the time that he was hit, and was not immediately near any protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"n2y0a\">“I was the only person in that open space, so I felt like I was targeted by that,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4wnfx\">The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</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",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rawsmedia (Independent)"
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{
"title": "New York Times bureau chief hit with paintball while covering pro-Trump rally in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-hit-with-projectiles-while-covering-a-pro-trump-caravan-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-06T18:05:01.610463Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:12.517803Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:12.436718Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oeyb6\">Mike Baker, Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times, said he was hit with less-lethal munitions, identified as paintballs, while covering a pro-Trump caravan that went through downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8b00m\">Baker was covering the “Trump cruise rally,” which began at the Clackamas Town Center parking lot, about nine miles outside of Portland. Trump supporters were met with counterprotesters as they drove through the downtown, sparking confrontations, according to local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/hundreds-gather-at-clackamas-town-center-for-cruise-rally\">news outlet KATU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gs4gz\">Oregon Public Broadcasting <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/30/portland-trump-cruise-rally-protest-rogue-river-pendleton/\">reported</a> online videos showing the “flag-adorned trucks driving through groups of protesters, firing paintball guns at crowds and deploying what appears to be pepper spray,” leading to “dangerous, tense confrontations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"plqk4\">Baker was filming the pro-Trump caravan at the intersection of Southwest Fourth Avenue and Southwest Washington Street downtown when a man riding in the bed of a black pickup truck flying a Trump flag opened fire with a paintball gun.</p><p data-block-key=\"ibz1j\">“The person in the back of the truck just started shooting their paintball gun into the crowd, just kind of shooting indiscriminately at anyone,” Baker told the Tracker. He was hit by a paintball in the back of the shoulder as he was turning away, he said, adding that it caused bruising but no serious injury. Baker was wearing body armor with press markings at the time he was hit, he told the Tracker</p><p data-block-key=\"4qoc0\">Baker captured <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1299908467457622016\">footage</a> of the incident, which he posted on Twitter at 8:15 p.m. As pickup trucks adorned with Trump and American flags drive through the intersection, a counterprotester can be seen trying to light a Trump flag on fire and another extends their middle finger at the caravan. A clear liquid of some kind can be seen being sprayed towards the caravan from the anti-Trump crowd, as a man in the back of a pickup fires a paintball at Baker and other people gathered on the sidewalk. Then a man in the next pickup deploys a yellow-tinted chemical irritant.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Clashes. Trump people unload paintballs and pepper spray. They shot me too. <a href=\"https://t.co/PwU5pZMLnV\">pic.twitter.com/PwU5pZMLnV</a></p>— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1299908467457622016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"31sef\">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 that have broken out across the country in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mike Baker (The New York Times)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Portland journalist shoved by police while filming arrest of protester",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-journalist-shoved-police-while-filming-arrest-protester/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-15T19:21:14.061666Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:59.121286Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:59.006171Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fn1pg\">Independent reporter Garrison Davis was shoved by a police officer while filming a protester getting arrested near the police union building in north Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"s50yj\">Davis, a contributor to iHeartRadio, was covering one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0vid\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, and later a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"eco5e\">Sometime after midnight on Aug. 29, the door to the Portland Police Association building was <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-92-solidarity-with-kenosha-portland-protests/\">set on fire</a>. After a riot was declared, police chased protesters into the parking lot of a gas station across the street, tackling and arresting some of them, Davis told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab7nb\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1299629458299609093\">video</a> tweeted by Davis, an officer can be seen confronting him as he moves closer to film an arrest in front of the gas station. The officer can be heard yelling, “Move back! Move back!” Then the video goes dark as the officer shoves Davis.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police approach me & begin to shove this reporter back as I’m walking in the open area around where arrests are happening. My phone is turned off in the process. <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/WhKBnrgJqO\">pic.twitter.com/WhKBnrgJqO</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1299629458299609093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 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=\"8tta1\">Robert Evans, a journalist for Bellingcat and iHeartRadio, captured the rest of the incident in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1299622638222860289\">video</a> he posted on Twitter. “Police officers very likely violate the TRO by shoving Garrison back to stop him from filming an arrest,” tweeted Evans.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvqpq\">Evans’ video shows the officer pushing Davis, who is holding his arms in the air. “Stay back over here where you were told to stay,” the officer can be heard telling Davis, who is clearly marked “press” on his helmet. Police can also be heard giving instructions over an LRAD warning protesters and press not to “interfere.”</p><p data-block-key=\"csia6\">Davis told the Tracker that he felt targeted as press by the PPB in this instance.</p><p data-block-key=\"akac4\">“He’s acting like I was repeatedly told to stay somewhere and I’m not, which isn’t what happened,” he said. “I wasn’t told to stay anywhere previously.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aub1z\">The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Garrison Davis (Freelance)"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist pepper sprayed, pushed by police while covering San Diego protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-pepper-sprayed-pushed-by-police-while-covering-san-diego-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-24T15:32:39.472720Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:23:57.360571Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:23:57.274000Z",
"date": "2020-08-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5828b\">Independent journalist James Stout said he was pepper sprayed and pushed with a club by police while he was covering a protest in San Diego, California on Aug. 28, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv6jz\">Demonstrators gathered in San Diego in the days after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Aug. 23, the <a href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-08-28/downtown-protest-turns-contentious-when-chemical-irritant-deployed\">San Diego Union-Tribune</a> reported. Protests against racism and police brutality had been held across the country for months, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and other deaths of Black people at the hands of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"sv4v3\">Stout, an independent journalist whose work has been published in Slate, The Appeal and other outlets, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was taking pictures of police arresting a woman who was driving a car that provides support for demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcqs4\">More protesters and police soon arrived at the scene, and Stout continued to take photographs. Stout said he was standing near a line of police officers who were blocking the intersection, looking through his camera viewfinder when he suddenly felt pepper spray on his face. He said he doesn’t know if he was targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mnyr\">Stout said he lowered his camera to try to see who had sprayed him when a police officer was suddenly in his face shouting at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2xi85\">“He starts shoving me and I'm like, no, no I'm a journalist,” Stout said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6480p\">The officer pushed him back with his hands and with a baton, he said. At the time, Stout said he was under the impression that the officer may have been trying to get his camera, so he held it up above his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"dr408\">“I got really mad after he eventually backed off,” Stout said. “I was like, What are you doing, why are you doing this? You're not supposed to attack journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fz6tn\">Stout said he verbally identified himself as a journalist several times. He was wearing a black vest with the word PRESS written in white, and he carried credentials issued by the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union, he said. He said he didn’t have any bruises or injuries from the incident because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.</p><p data-block-key=\"dxm6d\">According to an article Stout wrote for <a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/san-diego-police-protests-lynch-law.html\">Slate</a>, the journalist approached the captain of patrol operations for the San Diego Police Department, who was there at the time, to ask why they were targeting journalists. The official turned his back and walked away, Stout wrote. Stout told the Tracker that the San Diego Police Department has denied his requests for body camera footage of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"0p92k\">The San Diego Police Department didn’t return a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8mue\">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",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James Stout (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested and charged with breaking curfew in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-and-charged-breaking-curfew-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-19T20:24:43.263877Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:48.342476Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:48.239228Z",
"date": "2020-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pye3h\">Journalist Sam Richards, a freelancer who <a href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/sam-richards\">writes</a> for Vice News and other outlets, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for breaking curfew while covering civil unrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Aug. 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"9zt7x\">On the night of the 27th, Richards said he was documenting the effects of the second night of a city-wide curfew, posting reports on Twitter. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had <a href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/08/27/national-guard-activated-to-quell-unrest-in-minneapolis\">imposed</a> the curfew the day before in the wake of civil unrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"yl14i\">Richards told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after the curfew went into effect at 8 p.m., he was on Nicollet Mall, a shopping and dining district in downtown Minneapolis, when he saw a man being arrested. Richards began filming the man, and approached the group of law enforcement officers to ask them about the situation, he told the Tracker. Moments later, he said, several officers surrounded him, constrained him in zip ties, and put him under arrest for violating the curfew.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Oh hey, I know that young man <a href=\"https://t.co/ulOg9VQMrE\">https://t.co/ulOg9VQMrE</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299225641632628737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"0hz53\">Richards said he was not wearing any press credentials, but told the officers several times that “I am a reporter and we are exempt from the curfew.” He said he also gave them the name of the outlets he works for, as well as his Twitter handle, in hopes they would look up his work online. But they did not, according to Richards. The city’s <a href=\"https://www.minneapolismn.gov/media/minneapolismngov/content-assets/documents/Mayor-Declaration-of-Emergency-for-Civil-Disturbance-II-062620.pdf\">declaration</a> of local emergency states that members of the news media are exempt from curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"q3oly\">Richards and the man he’d been filming were taken to the Hennepin County Jail, where they were processed and then released shortly after 9 p.m., he told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was just arrested for violating curfew, already booked and released. Uploading video in a hot second. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Minneapolis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Minneapolis</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299168606878654471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"a5ouc\">After being released, Richards said he took “the long route home,” and continued to document what he saw along the way. In a video he posted to Twitter on his walk he said he was told “If I was spotted out here again then I would be arrested, which was confusing because I was under the impression that I was already arrested.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video of my curfew arrest didn't save, here is a quick summation. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Minneapolis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Minneapolis</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/5EQeo64vHm\">pic.twitter.com/5EQeo64vHm</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299178698265030661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"jyijx\">According to a citation notice that Richards shared with the Tracker, the journalist was charged with violating an imposed curfew and was called to appear at an arraignment on Dec. 28. Violation of curfew is a misdemeanor offense in Minneapolis and “is punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 12.45, and MCO Section 1.30,” <a href=\"http://news.minneapolismn.gov/2020/05/30/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-curfew-in-minneapolis/\">according to the City of Minneapolis website</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7amsf\">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>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-11-19 22:11:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist charged with breaking curfew in Minneapolis"
],
"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": [
"Sam Richards (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Police action damages camera of journalist as he covers protests in Washington, D.C.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-action-damages-camera-of-journalist-as-he-covers-protests-in-washington-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T21:52:29.915114Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:27:00.003849Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:59.925832Z",
"date": "2020-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c2k8f\">Actions by Metropolitan Police Department officers led to damage of a camera used by freelancer Andrew Jasiura while he was covering protests in Washington D.C., according to the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"s39p0\">On the night of Aug. 27, 2020, Jasiura, who has been documenting the protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement for several months, was covering demonstrations in downtown Washington D.C. Protesters were gathered in the pedestrian area outside of the White House that was <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/05/870833518/black-lives-matter-plaza-across-from-white-house-is-christened-by-d-c-leaders\">renamed</a> “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” when a man arrived at the scene wearing blackface, Jasiura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypjim\">When protesters started chasing the man, police officers moved to protect him, detaining a protester who allegedly assaulted the man, Jasiura said. Another protester sought to intervene and was pushed away by a police officer, according to the journalist. Jasiura had been photographing the encounter, and the officer shoved the protester in his direction, he said. “He threw that person into me and I hit a barricade. The screen on one of my cameras broke,” Jasiura told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MPD broke the screen on my camera last night while I was recording an unjust arrest. The protestor was released less than two hours later with no charges. This was the occasion where MPD was protecting the white man in BLM Plaza wearing black face <a href=\"https://t.co/Pf1OkDUUyr\">pic.twitter.com/Pf1OkDUUyr</a></p>— DrewJazzyPhoto (@PhotoJazzy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1299413687950770181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"re9h9\">According to Jasiura, police officers told him that if he sent in his footage they could review it and determine if any police misconduct had occurred. “But giving that footage to the police could put protesters at risk, so I didn’t do it,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"i9plp\">The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4a446\">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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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
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},
{
"title": "Getty photojournalist struck in head with rubber bullet during Kenosha protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-struck-in-head-with-rubber-bullet-during-kenosha-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T19:43:14.814552Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T16:19:43.411073Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T16:19:43.347599Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kenosha",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gvdon\">Scott Olson, a Getty photojournalist, said he was struck in the head with a rubber bullet fired by law enforcement officers while covering a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"t69bf\">Olsen was documenting clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse that had continued past an 8 p.m. state of emergency curfew. In an effort to disperse protesters, officers fired pepper balls and tear gas, according to several press reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"90u88\">Olson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was hit during the same protest as he photographed demonstrators taking cover behind a dumpster. He said he was wearing a helmet and a gas mask for protection when a rubber bullet struck the side of his head, tearing cartilage in his ear and leaving him bleeding and with a temporary hearing loss. He said his hearing came back about twenty minutes later, and his physical injury did not result in long-term damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"o9lmd\">Olson said he was standing about 15 feet from protesters and roughly 30-50 feet from police officers. He added that from where he stood, the side profile of his body would have been visible to law enforcement officers, who were behind a fence surrounding the courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4m8x\">“I think they were firing in between the opening of the fence,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6b9f1\">Because of his position, and because he was carrying two professional cameras, Olson believed it was clear that he was a member of the press. He said that there was also another photojournalist close to him.</p><p data-block-key=\"rr85q\">“I think we were pretty identifiable,” he told the Tracker, adding that, since he was far away from demonstrators, he felt that the rubber bullet that hit him had been deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qtbs\">“I was further up away from them [protesters] where I wouldn’t look like I was part of that group and there was really no one around me other than another photojournalist,” he said. “So not only I think I was targeted, I think I was targeted in my head.”</p><p data-block-key=\"60kf0\">The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the police department have not responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"mdbuu\">Protests in Kenosha started on Aug. 23, 2020, after police officers shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in front of his three children, leaving him paralyzed. Hundreds of people in Kenosha joined public protests against police brutality and while many demonstrations were peaceful, some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"mm8gl\">The night Scott Olson was hit by rubber bullets, a group of armed vigilantes patrolled the streets of Kenosha. Later that night, two protesters were shot dead and another man was injured. A 17-year-old was arrested and now faces criminal charges for those killings.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "AFP reporter hit with a rubber bullet while covering unrest in Kenosha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/afp-reporter-hit-rubber-bullet-while-covering-unrest-kenosha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T14:33:28.709978Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v06wg\">Robert Chiarito, a journalist on assignment for the news agency Agence France-Presse, said he was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet while covering a confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-hit-rubber-bullets-while-covering-protest-kenosha/\">two other reporters</a> were hit by rubber bullets during the same protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"r66hz\">About an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew, Chiarito said he was reporting on a clash between protesters and law enforcement in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse when he was hit in the leg. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he thought he’d been hit with a rock, until a protester picked up a rubber bullet and gave it to him. “I think you got hit by that, you earned it,” the protester told him.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0wp2\">Chiarito later <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158431554231438&set=a.430355046437\">posted a photo</a> of the plastic bullet, a 40-millimeter rubber baton, a type of non-lethal munition used by law enforcement. “It hit the ground first and then it hit my leg,” Chiarito told the Tracker. “I got lucky that I came out of there with a souvenir,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"95gff\">Chiarito told the Tracker that when he was hit, he was surrounded by protesters and the closest officers were about 50 feet away.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml003\">“It was dark out, I was wearing my press credential, but unless you were close to me, there was no way of knowing who I was,” he told the Tracker. “I don’t believe I was targeted, but it shows just how indiscriminate it was just firing in the crowd, because they weren’t targeting any specific person,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnxpn\">Hundreds of people protested in the streets of Kenosha against police brutality following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police officers on Aug. 23. Many demonstrations were peaceful but some turned violent and some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"cevd7\">The same night Chiarito was hit, a group of civilian men carrying assault rifles and handguns began patrolling the streets. Later that night two demonstrators were shot dead and a third was wounded. Officers arrested a 17-year-old from Antioch who had arrived in Kenosha with an assault rifle.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1e2sa\">Law enforcement officers stand guard on Aug. 25, 2020, after protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man two days before.</p>",
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{
"title": "Rubber bullet breaks finger of photojournalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-hit-rubber-bullets-while-covering-protest-kenosha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T14:30:16.711684Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m1rhe\">Rubber bullets fired by law enforcement officers injured a photojournalist from a national media outlet covering a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahzgd\">Alyssa Schukar, who was on assignment for The New York Times, said she was hit in her left hand while documenting clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse that had continued past an 8 p.m. state of emergency curfew. In an effort to disperse protesters, officers fired pepper balls and tear gas, according to several press reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"66rr7\">Schukar told U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was struck as she stood to the side of the demonstration, about 30 yards from the protesters and an equal distance from the line of police. The bullet struck the base of her index finger, shattering the bone and causing fractures.</p><p data-block-key=\"lomby\">“I went straight to the medic area and then I had to go straight to the hospital, it was very obviously broken,” she said. Since then, Schukar has had two surgeries, and she is now in physical therapy.</p><p data-block-key=\"x8yoj\">Schukar said that law enforcement officers were firing from a narrow gap behind a barricade and that when she was hit, she was standing far away from protesters. Although she said she could not be certain whether she was deliberately targeted, “it feels a bit suspect to me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zgxr1\">Schukar said she was wearing a helmet and goggles, but no body armor. She added that when she was struck, her hand was on top of her stomach, where she was carrying one of her cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"lvdzf\">“These are highly trained law enforcement folks,” she said. “To me, it doesn’t make sense that they could [accidentally] hit me so squarely in the middle of my body.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ijapl\">Schukar said she did not file a complaint with police, but legal counsel for The New York Times submitted a letter to police and to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department asking for an investigation into the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"aw67x\">“It’s important this is on the record, because this is happening increasingly,” she said. As of late October the Times had not received a response, according to Schukar.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9x8d\">The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the police department have not responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"slqro\">Protests in Kenosha started on Aug. 23, 2020, after police officers shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in front of his three children, leaving him paralyzed. Hundreds of people in Kenosha joined public protests against police brutality and while many demonstrations were peaceful, some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"ygsvt\">The night Schukar was hit by a rubber bullet, a group of armed vigilantes patrolled the streets of Kenosha. Later that night, two protesters were shot dead and another man was injured. A 17-year-old was arrested and now faces criminal charges for those killings.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1ij78\">Law enforcement officers stand guard on Aug. 25, 2020, after protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man two days before.</p>",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist said she was threatened by an individual while covering a Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-said-she-was-threatened-by-an-individual-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-19T14:55:30.458738Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tl5ta\">Independent journalist Teebs Auberdine said she was threatened by an individual while covering a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"rl52o\">The protest was one of many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"zbye9\">Several hundred people marched to City Hall the evening of Aug. 25, and the police quickly declared an “unlawful assembly” after the property was damaged, according to <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-continue-on-3-month-anniversary-of-george-floyds-death.html\">The Oregonian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"31hhm\">While Auberdine was livestreaming, she likely recorded some minor property crime, she said. She was approached by someone dressed in mostly black bloc, a tactic used by some protesters to conceal their identities by wearing black and baggy clothing and face coverings, wearing a helmet and respirator, she told the Tracker. They threatened her, she said, saying, "What did you see? Didn't see shit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"02x1o\">"I was in the process of moving backward and then they came after me,” she said. “They threatened me and slapped my camera, which destabilized the gimbal, but it didn’t fall out of the clip."</p><p data-block-key=\"df4s1\">"It was very physically threatening in a non-specific way, but it was very unsettling," she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ieh9q\">The individual told her that if she filmed in a way that they weren’t comfortable with, she would be "run out" or have her camera smashed, Auberdine told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"3r2fb\">She asked someone she knew to watch after her, but that person "ended up getting arrested by the Portland Police Bureau that night for standing beside me,” she said. “Initially I felt very responsible."</p><p data-block-key=\"nc0l2\">Auberdine was wearing a vest with large press markings on the front and back, she said, and also had a gimbal, microphone and reporting equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xv4b7\">“Whoever did it needs to direct their anger somewhere other than inflicting trauma on their allies. I've spent hundreds of hours, plenty of my own $, and sacrificed my health to stream,” she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1298560528873213952?s=20\">tweeted</a> afterward.</p><p data-block-key=\"99rwu\">In a follow-up <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1298560530865508352?s=20\">tweet</a>, she added, “Tonight was a mess. I’m a mess.”</p></div>",
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