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[
{
"title": "Justice Department secretly obtained emails from Project Veritas founder",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-project-veritas-founder/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-12T20:56:40.970250Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-13T21:01:38.787435Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-13T21:01:38.695832Z",
"date": "2021-04-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5ands\">The U.S. Justice Department issued a secret warrant to Microsoft on April 9, 2021, to obtain emails and contacts of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe as part of its investigation of a diary stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden. </p><p data-block-key=\"gqgh\">O’Keefe’s name was redacted in <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.64.1.pdf\">the warrant</a>, but in a later <a href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/36sXRLOl9uMicjgduyyLkB/d4063861052db931115a0b18f29ebfc5/2022-03-22__DE_64__Motion_regarding_Microsoft_materials.pdf\">court filing</a>, attorneys for Project Veritas identified the person targeted as O’Keefe. </p><p data-block-key=\"2qvdu\">The warrant was one of five orders issued to the technology company for communications of eight journalists from Project Veritas, which is known for hidden-camera sting operations of liberal politicians and nonprofits. As a result of the warrants, the government collected nearly 200,000 emails and other files, attorneys for Project Veritas said in a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.70.0.pdf\">court filing</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"bu19s\">In the other secret warrants, federal agents sought emails and contacts from Project Veritas journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-project-veritas-journalists-emails/\">Eric Cochran and Spencer Meads,</a> and five <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-three-project-veritas-journalists/\">additional</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-project-veritas-journalist/\">unidentified</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-project-veritas-journalists-email-information/\">Project Veritas journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"770qn\">Project Veritas, which identifies itself as a nonprofit investigative outlet, purchased the Biden diary in September 2020 from <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/us/politics/ashley-biden-diary-project-veritas-guilty.html\">two people who later pleaded guilty</a> to conspiring to transport stolen materials, a felony. Project Veritas never published the diary and gave it to police on Nov. 8, 2020. </p><p data-block-key=\"7chfb\">The Department of Justice, however, opened an investigation into the outlet and its journalists concerning alleged conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, conspiracy to possess stolen goods, interstate transportation of stolen property and possession of stolen goods.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q2n8\">The secret <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.64.1.pdf\">warrant sought O’Keefe’s emails</a>, contacts and Microsoft subscriber information from Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 1, 2020. A U.S. District Court ordered that the warrant for O’Keefe’s emails be sealed for one year.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nvso\">After the warrants became public, Project Veritas lawyers <a href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/36sXRLOl9uMicjgduyyLkB/d4063861052db931115a0b18f29ebfc5/2022-03-22__DE_64__Motion_regarding_Microsoft_materials.pdf\">filed a request for preliminary relief from U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres</a>. It does not appear from court records that the court ruled on this request.</p><p data-block-key=\"fst1m\">Separately, search warrants were carried out at the homes of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/project-veritas-founder-detained-phones-seized-amid-fbi-raid-of-his-home/\">O’Keefe, </a><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-project-veritas-staffer-detained-devices-seized/\">Cochran</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-project-veritas-journalist-detained-devices-seized/\">Meads</a> in November 2021, alarming <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24253862-143-letter-brief-of-amici-curiae-aclu-fpf-fire-in-re-search-warrant-dated-november-5-2021-no-21-mc-00813\">free speech advocates</a>, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project. A special master was appointed to determine what seized information could be shared with prosecutors. </p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/April-9-warrant.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hiyks\">A portion of an April 9, 2021, Justice Department warrant issued to Microsoft seeking emails and contacts from Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": "Microsoft",
"third_party_business": "tech company",
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James O'Keefe (Project Veritas)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "San Francisco reporter pepper-sprayed during attempted robbery, the second in as many months",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-reporter-pepper-sprayed-during-attempted-robbery-the-second-in-as-many-months/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-26T18:49:00.469927Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:40:57.023277Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:40:56.929715Z",
"date": "2021-04-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"40zsr\">Reporter Don Ford, of KPIX 5, a CBS affiliate station based in San Francisco, California, and his security guard were blinded for “almost an hour” after being sprayed with chemicals while working on a story in <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/04/07/kpix-5-reporter-guard-pepper-sprayed-attempted-robbery-san-francisco-golden-gate-park/\">Golden Gate Park on April 7, 2021,</a> the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnpm4\">The KPIX 5 crew had been recording a segment at around 1:20 p.m. near Stow Lake when they were approached by the suspect, who attempted to steal the crew’s camera. The assailant then sprayed Ford and his security guard with a chemical Ford believed to be pepper spray, before running away. The security guard gave chase, and the assailant dropped the camera, after being hit by his own getaway car. The suspect was then driven off by a second man in a car with <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/04/07/kpix-5-reporter-guard-pepper-sprayed-attempted-robbery-san-francisco-golden-gate-park/\">Nevada plates</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"iyeaw\">Ford shared with the Tracker documentation he’d made of the incident just after it happened: “Assignment: Coyotes roaming around Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Beautiful sunny warm day with lots of people around. Just me and my guard when we were jumped and pepper sprayed. The attacker used a large canister style Pepper Spray, not the small kind sold in Drug Stores. We weren’t really sprayed, we were doused at close range, directly into our faces.”</p><p data-block-key=\"brb5i\">He added: “Bad guy grabbed the camera. Guard pulled his weapon and we gave chase before the full force of the Pepper Spray had time to take us down. The bad guy had trouble getting the camera into the car. Camera was still attached to the Tripod. We closed in. Seeing the gun, bad boy dropped the camera, jumped into the car and sped away. Seconds later, we were totally incapacitated with the burning pain.</p><p data-block-key=\"29pga\">“SFPD and ambulance arrives and spent the next hour helping us get our sight back. Eventually, we were able to see again.</p><p data-block-key=\"xsnlh\">“I made it home, showered for almost another hour but the pepper is delivered in an oily base that soaks into the skin’s pores. Cops said it may take couple days to fully rid myself of the effects.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fuzrb\">Ford said that the assault happened on his second day back to work, after taking a two-week-long break following a separate assault in March. The Tracker has documented that <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-tv-reporter-robbed-at-gunpoint-while-recording-interview/\">incident here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"nayis\">The video camera, a Sony HD professional, was severely damaged, Ford said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tbcuk\">When reached for comment by the Tracker, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson relayed the following details: “As the suspect was fleeing with the camera, he dropped the camera and entered the getaway vehicle, which fled the scene. Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene, who treated the victims’ non-life-threatening injuries.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92nbw\">A veteran TV reporter who has been working in the Bay Area since 1981, Ford said that during the course of his career he has chased Sandinistas, documented numerous forest fires and multiple accounts of civil unrest, and was once even rescued from a life raft in the Pacific by the U.S. Coast Guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"ccqdp\">“I've seen a lot,” Ford said, “but I've never seen so many attacks on TV news crews as now.”</p><p data-block-key=\"78lwt\">"I'm now taking time off work to ‘process’ the attacks,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"uhfic\">According to the SFPD, the “incident remains under active investigation and no arrests have been made.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/-1628052751_20210407_142523_35963.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"i7k3n\">While attempting to steal the station video camera, an assailant pepper-sprayed KPIX 5 reporter Don Ford and security guard.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Don Ford (KPIX-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "April: Journalists ordered to disperse, threatened with arrest while reporting on racial justice protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/april-journalists-ordered-to-disperse-threatened-with-arrest-while-reporting-on-racial-justice-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-26T16:43:42.848814Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:25:53.720948Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:25:53.615997Z",
"date": "2021-04-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"60wqh\"><i>The fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 11, 2021 rekindled a wave of racial justice protests that began almost a year earlier. Wright’s death, on April 11, occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of George Floyd. Protests</i> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/brooklyn-center-minnesota-police-shooting.html\"><i>began outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department</i></a><i> the day Wright was killed, and continued daily through mid-April. Journalists covering the protests in Brooklyn Center say they have been hit with crowd-control devices, ordered by police to disperse and detained at media credential checkpoints. During the same period, racial justice demonstrations have also been held in other cities around the United States.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"7wwv1\"><i>Below is a round-up of incidents involving individual journalists and news crews who faced harassment and threats in the course of their reporting on racial justice protests in Brooklyn Center and across the country. 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</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=\"nxk1y\"><b>April 11, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"erqy6\">In Brooklyn Center, Minnesota</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"79amy\">Journalists were ordered to disperse by the Brooklyn Center Police Department, according to <b>Niko Georgiades</b> of Unicorn Riot, an independent news site and social media outlet. At 11:27 p.m., Unicorn Riot <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1381463907630411778\">tweeted</a> that police issued a dispersal order, specifying that it included the media. Video posted by Unicorn Riot shows a line of police officers and a large vehicle in front of the city’s police department. About 17 minutes and 30 seconds into the video, a voice can be heard ordering people to leave the area, including members of the media; shortly after, police announce that those who do not disperse will be subject to arrest: “If you do not cease your unlawful behavior and disperse immediately, you will be arrested. This includes the media.” Georgiades told the Tracker the orders were “startling.” Even though he thought it was unlikely that members of the press would be arrested, he felt it had a chilling effect because it caused journalists to question whether they should stay. “Everybody was looking at each other like, what should we do? Should we leave?” He said he did not leave immediately, and later when he was leaving with two protest medics, he showed his press pass and believes that was why police allowed them to proceed. Brooklyn Center Police Department did not immediately 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 police officer sounding aggravated over the loudspeaker at the Brooklyn Center just said the unlawful assembly means everyone must leave or face arrest. <br><br>He made sure to say "this includes the media". <br><br>Tear gas being fired again now: <a href=\"https://t.co/M0k7lHx31p\">https://t.co/M0k7lHx31p</a></p>— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1381463907630411778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 12, 2021</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=\"payfm\">Georgiades said he was also nearly hit with tear gas canisters deployed by police, which he believes were directed at protesters near him. He said chemical agents were strong. “It made me question, should I continue to stay up here to record this,” he said. He said he moved back from where he was reporting because of the gas, but later returned.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"fy8re\"><b>April 13, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"mbv09\">Brooklyn Center, Minnesota</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"rcvmd\">Multiple journalists — including CNN correspondent <b>Sara Sidner</b>, independent photojournalist <b>Christopher Juhn</b> and <b>Jon Farina</b> of the online news outlet Status Coup — posted on social media that they heard police order journalists to disperse. Juhn, whose work has been published by outlets including the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and Minnesota Public Radio, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he heard police direct members of the press to leave a particular area while law enforcement used rubber bullets and tear gas to try to clear protesters. He said that police sometimes directed bright light toward him and told him to stop taking photographs. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup/status/1382169904938422276\">Video posted</a> on Status Coup’s Twitter account credited to Farina shows a protester sitting in the street in front of a line of police vehicles. A voice heard over a loudspeaker announces that the gathering has been declared an unlawful assembly. The voice then announces: “Media leave the area. Media and press, leave the area.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"If you do not cease your unlawful behavior & disperse peaceably, you will be arrested...Media and press, leave the area."–Minnesota cops just announced over a loudspeaker. A protester responded, "Media's not leaving! Media's gonna stay!"– <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JonFarinaPhoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JonFarinaPhoto</a> reports <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DaunteWright?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DaunteWright</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9RqaIEwSnN\">pic.twitter.com/9RqaIEwSnN</a></p>— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup/status/1382169904938422276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 14, 2021</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=\"7irhf\">Sidner<a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarasidnerCNN/status/1382338180993716230\"> posted on Twitter</a> on April 14 that on the previous night she heard police announce “journalists will be arrested” while she was in Brooklyn Center. “In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say “journalists will be arrested” during a protests,” she wrote. “We stayed. The citizens are why we stay.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say “journalists will be arrested” during a protests. But that happened in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrooklynCenter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BrooklynCenter</a> last night. We stayed. The citizens are why we stay. I took this moments aft the announcement <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DaunteWright?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DaunteWright</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rMU0fEyJKU\">pic.twitter.com/rMU0fEyJKU</a></p>— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarasidnerCNN/status/1382338180993716230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 14, 2021</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=\"kihz8\">Following these incidents, on April 16 a federal judge in Minnesota issued a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/press-releases/judge-issues-order-halting-police-attacks-journalists\">temporary restraining order</a>, requested by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, that bars Minnesota State Patrol from threatening journalists with arrest and clarifies that journalists are not required to leave when there is a dispersal order. MSP <a href=\"https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/msp/Pages/msp-statement-recent-temporary-restraining-order.aspx\">announced</a> April 17 that the law enforcement agency would “no longer include messaging at the scene advising media where they can go to safely cover events.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r7s4b\"><b>April 16, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"5bpb6\">Brooklyn Center, Minnesota</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"jt6nb\">Journalists from the Mac Weekly, the student news site of Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, were ordered to stand on a street corner and not move, and also were threatened with arrest, while covering protests at Brooklyn Center. Photographer <b>Kori Suzuki</b> posted on Twitter that he was with news editor <b>Estelle Timar-Wilcox</b> when police officers started kettling the protesters, then he reported that he and Timar-Wilcox were with a small group of media who were told to stand on a street corner or <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tw_estelle/status/1383262203738943492\">face arrest</a>. The Mac Weekly’s Twitter feed featured photographs of the protests and lines of police officers with riot shields, it reported through the night. While covering the event, Timar-Wilcox posted on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tw_estelle/status/1383262203738943492\">Twitter</a>: “Tons of arrests tonight. Looks like just law enforcement left - a hundred at least - at this intersection, blocking street and taking apart leftover umbrellas.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Still waiting here. Tons of arrests tonight. Looks like just law enforcement left - a hundred at least - at this intersection, blocking street and taking apart leftover umbrellas <a href=\"https://t.co/31RKdxDxoB\">https://t.co/31RKdxDxoB</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/o4stNDOPzY\">pic.twitter.com/o4stNDOPzY</a></p>— Estelle TW (@tw_estelle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tw_estelle/status/1383262203738943492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 17, 2021</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=\"oej4r\"><b>April 20, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"9nwat\">Los Angeles, California</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"nq2q1\">Freelance journalist <b>Joey Scott</b> said he and other journalists were ordered to disperse by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department during a protest near the Hall of Justice in the city’s downtown. Scott told the Tracker that tensions escalated between a group of protesters and the sheriffs’ deputies, and he could hear law enforcement make an announcement over a loudspeaker, but wasn’t able to hear what it said. A short time later, officers advanced on protesters with riot shields, pushing them down the street. Then, he said, officers told him and a team of CNN journalists that they also had to leave. In a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1384667977795002371\"> video Scott posted on Twitter</a>, an officer can be heard saying, “Didn’t you guys hear the dispersal order? That pertains to you, too.” When Scott asks if that applies to press, an officer responds “yes.” “You have to leave, right along with everybody else. You’re part of the problem,” one officer says <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1384668206690828288\">in another video</a>. Scott told the Tracker he asked if there was a media viewing area, but was told to leave. “The implication was that we were going to be arrested if we didn't leave,” he told the Tracker. Scott said he was wearing credentials issued by the National Press Photographers Association and the International Workers of the World Freelancers Union, as well as multiple “PRESS” markings on his helmet and backpack. LASD did not immediately 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\">They threatened me with arrest. <a href=\"https://t.co/ZJzK4kDAGM\">pic.twitter.com/ZJzK4kDAGM</a></p>— joeyneverjoe (he/him) (@joeyneverjoe) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1384667977795002371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 21, 2021</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=\"iqhp6\"><b>April 27, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"3fs9h\">Elizabeth City, North Carolina</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"hf2av\">Mayor Bettie Parker declared a state of emergency in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on the morning of April 26, after protests over the shooting and killing of a Black man, Andrew Brown, by police deputies earlier in the month. On April 27, city officials updated the emergency declaration to include a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m, with no media exemption, according to local TV station <a href=\"https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/north-carolina/elizabeth-city-mayor-declares-state-of-emergency-bodycam-footage-release/291-37a7aeb9-170d-4f7c-8bef-a9a56b8a9580\">13newsnow</a><b>.</b> “The only exceptions are for people who have to commute to travel to work or if there's an emergency,” it reported.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hqi3m\"><b>April 29, 2021</b></p><p data-block-key=\"x4ico\">Elizabeth City, North Carolina</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"c1doq\">Multiple journalists — including photographer <b>Jon Farina</b> for Status Coup, USA Today’s <b>Dean P.E. Stephens</b> and <b>Rachel Berry,</b> plus <b>Travis Long</b> and <b>Josh Shaffer</b> of The News & Observer and <b>Ford Fischer</b> of News2Share — were threatened with arrest while covering a peaceful protest in Elizabeth City, despite previous assurances from city leaders that they were allowed to continue working. Casey Blake, USA Today’s news editor for North Carolina, said in a tweet: “Police in #ElizabethCity have instructed media to leave, claiming falsely that media are not exempt from tonight's curfew. This is absolutely unacceptable. Journalists must never choose between doing their jobs and facing arrest, and communities deserve witnesses.” Blake said that reporters were moving to safety after police in riot gear threatened to arrest journalists for carrying out their work. This came after media had asked for confirmation the day before, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaseyBlakeAVL/status/1387609936461455360\">had received a statement</a> from the city attorney that working journalists did not have to abide by the curfew, and that the police chief had acknowledged that, said Blake. Berry posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/racheldberry/status/1387630039068463105\">a video on Twitter</a> and <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/100023701302468/videos/910067669793268/?d=n\">Facebook</a> of police in riot gear, and Long posted a video of media being <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joshshaffer08/status/1387602241683693569\">told to leave</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\">The First Amendment is only a string of words if officers with weapons in riot gear refuse to respect it in the streets. Operating in illegal darkness has never made a community safer, and we will not accept it.</p>— Casey Blake (@CaseyBlakeAVL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaseyBlakeAVL/status/1387611274956115970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 29, 2021</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=\"4s08y\"><b>Farina</b> was also threatened with arrest for asking a police officer a question, capturing the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup/status/1388136618813530119\">incident on video</a>. He asked: "This is your community, can I ask you how you feel about this?" The police officer responded by telling Farina he was about to be arrested.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last night, a North Carolina cop threatened to arrest photojournalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JonFarinaPhoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JonFarinaPhoto</a> while he was covering <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/AndrewBrownJr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AndrewBrownJr</a> protests for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StatusCoup</a>. <br><br>His crime...asking the police officer "this is your community, can I ask you how you feel about this?" <a href=\"https://t.co/E8SsbRzqgX\">pic.twitter.com/E8SsbRzqgX</a></p>— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup/status/1388136618813530119?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 30, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>",
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"Media"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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{
"title": "Judge quashes subpoena for Fortune magazine reporter’s notes from profile of Theranos ex-CEO",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-subpoena-for-fortune-magazine-reporters-notes-from-profile-of-theranos-ex-ceo/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T17:33:58.985246Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T15:51:03.440112Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T15:51:03.343287Z",
"date": "2021-03-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Jose",
"longitude": -121.89496,
"latitude": 37.33939,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vw9dd\">A California magistrate judge quashed a subpoena on Oct. 14, 2021, seeking reporting notes, materials and testimony from reporter Roger Parloff as part of a criminal trial. The subpoena, issued March 26, focused on notes and audio recordings in relation to his June 2014 Fortune magazine profile of Elizabeth Holmes, then-CEO of Theranos.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zwgr\">Parloff was subpoenaed by Holmes’ defense team during her criminal fraud case for allegedly defrauding patients and investors of Theranos, a start-up technology company that claimed to have developed a device that could run blood tests with a microscopic amount of blood.</p><p data-block-key=\"mmvwu\">Holmes and her business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/page/file/1135066/download\">federally indicted</a> on June 14, 2018, and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Holmes’ jury trial started on Sept. 8, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"xke68\">Parloff, who wrote in a column that his profile helped “<a href=\"https://fortune.com/2015/12/17/how-theranos-misled-me-elizabeth-holmes/\">raise to prominence the inventor-entrepreneur</a>,” became a key witness for federal prosecutors who used his Fortune magazine reporting to demonstrate how Holmes misled investors. More than a year after publishing the profile, Parloff published <a href=\"https://fortune.com/2015/12/17/how-theranos-misled-me-elizabeth-holmes/\">a correction to the article</a> in 2015, noting the misleading statements Theranos had made to him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ry24a\">According to <a href=\"https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/the-elizabeth-holmes-trial-theranos-fraud-media-carreyou-fights-back-2021-10\">Markets Insider</a>, Parloff already agreed to testify in the trial. He provided notes and transcripts of his 2014 interview with Holmes to federal prosecutors and Holmes’ defense team, but the subpoena, to appear in court on Sept. 7, 2021, demanded he turn over additional reporting notes from other sources he interviewed for the profile.</p><p data-block-key=\"utek8\">Parloff’s lawyer, David S. Korzenik, challenged the request, arguing it was a “fishing expedition” and violated Parloff’s reporter’s privilege. Korzenik did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"sk5yg\">“The trial is not about Mr. Parloff’s state of mind. It’s not a libel case against his subsequent article in which he corrected his first,” Korzenik said during the hearing. “He can only testify as to what Ms. Holmes told him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j12y3\">According to <a href=\"https://www.law360.com/productliability/articles/1430991/holmes-prayed-as-wsj-reporter-raised-doubts-jury-told\">Law360</a>, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins agreed with Parloff’s request to quash the subpoena, saying that the subpoena was insufficient because it speculated about what Parloff’s notes contained, adding that granting it could prolong the trial.</p></div>",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Roger Parloff (Fortune)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with rubber bullet covering homeless encampment protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-rubber-bullet-covering-homeless-encampment-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-09T19:45:45.644468Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-09T19:45:45.644468Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-09T19:45:45.536948Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e66p0\">Photojournalist Luis Sinco was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet fired by a Los Angeles Police Department officer while covering demonstrations near LA’s Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, according to news reports and a video posted on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"auq8r\">Sinco, a staff photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times, was covering protests against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1087495900/echo-park-protest-lapd-journalist\">NPR reported</a> in 2022. LAPD officers had tried to move journalists to a staging area a block away, but Sinco remained close to the park.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3sak\">As he was taking photographs at the rear of a small group of protesters late that evening, Sinco heard a loud “pop” behind him, according to the report.</p><p data-block-key=\"k2so\">A video posted by another journalist shows a man wearing a tan jacket carrying a camera and a camera bag — identified by NPR as Sinco — getting grazed in the leg by a shot fired from behind by an officer. Sinco is then seen limping away.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8v3r\">The journalist, Jonah Valdez, who was also <a href=\"https://x.com/search?q=from%3Ajonahmv%20echo&src=typed_query\">covering</a> the encampment removal and protest, wrote in a <a href=\"https://x.com/jonahmv/status/1375291350464126977\">post</a> accompanying the video on social platform X that “LAPD officers are firing less-than-lethals as warning shots to push protesters back.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After an ambush from behind us, LAPD officers are firing less-than-lethals as warning shots to push protesters back. <br><br>The rest of the group is still trapped and kettled behind two skirmish lines, closer toward Echo Park Lake. <a href=\"https://t.co/5qBVHuqtVN\">https://t.co/5qBVHuqtVN</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xKWlV7wE1d\">pic.twitter.com/xKWlV7wE1d</a></p>— jonah valdez (@jonahmv) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonahmv/status/1375291350464126977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e66p0\">NPR reported that Sinco was mildly injured by the shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"8nrj1\">Sinco called the firing of the shot “sadistic,” adding, “What was the point of that, right? I mean, it could have hurt me more badly. Thank God it didn’t.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e8pj8\">LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell told NPR: “When we’re looking at situations where there is either civil unrest or protest or after sporting events, our greatest concern is ensuring that there is preservation of life and that there’s preservation of property. It’s very gray at times as to who’s out there and with what intentions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c038f\">Sinco and the LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"1h2ap\">At least 19 journalists were arrested or detained, and a third of them assaulted, while covering the protest, as <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">reported in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP21084336087314.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ruw8d\">Police look on during an eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, California, on March 25, 2021. Photojournalist Luis Sinco was hit in the leg with a rubber bullet fired by an officer while covering protests there that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Luis Sinco (Los Angeles Times)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist charged with failure to disperse while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-charged-with-failure-to-disperse-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-26T16:44:13.148390Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:59.448219Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:59.332109Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"miow6\">At least 20 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"s1933\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7dmrd\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"90mah\">Orange County-based independent photojournalist Robert “Chip” Sneed told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that as soon as officers declared the unlawful assembly he moved from the street to the sidewalk, in order to avoid possible arrest for standing in the roadway.</p><p data-block-key=\"2v2xz\">Sneed said that protesters had begun moving away from the police line when law enforcement rushed the crowd. Then, he said, a second group of officers came out from a nearby alley to kettle the group.</p><p data-block-key=\"fuzb3\">“As the protesters are moving backward, the police line does a bullrush and I’m toward the front of the crowd at that point, and I get knocked over and banged up a little bit,” Sneed said. “Luckily some people helped me up and carried me back a bit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g1uuy\">Once the crowd was surrounded by the police kettle, Sneed said, he ran back and forth to photograph arrests as officers detained individuals one by one. Within minutes, however, Sneed said he also was arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqamh\">“I don’t know whether they were targeting me already,” he said, but as he made his way across a street, “I made eye contact with two officers that were moving forward from behind the skirmish line to make an arrest and they ran toward me and told me I was under arrest.” Sneed said he identified himself to the officers as press and showed them a press badge that he had created himself. He said he was also carrying two professional cameras, a GoPro camera and was filming with his cellphone when he was arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"kxk5e\">“I kept asking to speak to the supervisor. Eventually I was able to, and I explained that I was press and I was well within my First Amendment rights to be documenting what was going on and he informed me that apparently they had made an announcement that said press and media were also subject to arrest if they didn’t disperse.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uwjhl\">After waiting 45 minutes on the sidewalk and another hour on a police bus, Sneed said he was transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center. He said he was released after midnight on March 26 and given paperwork ordering him to appear in court on July 30, on a charge of failure to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"o7ntn\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gl6i4\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"94xdf\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"je9yc\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"6zrkl\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fzf14\">Sneed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chip_nooo/status/1375394674769231873\">retweeted</a> the statement, noting that at no time did he hear the order for the media to disperse and that when he identified himself as press he was told it didn’t matter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At no time was the press specifically ordered to a designated media area. At no point did any officers attempt to identify myself or other media members being arrested. When I was arrested I immediately identified myself as press and was told it didn’t matter. Y’all fucked up. <a href=\"https://t.co/Ie8n3cwefK\">https://t.co/Ie8n3cwefK</a></p>— CHIP NOOO (@chip_nooo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chip_nooo/status/1375394674769231873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"xnat2\">A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, reached by phone, told the Tracker that department policy is not to discuss arrests once paperwork has been filed. The spokesperson did not respond to emailed requests to confirm details about Sneed’s arrest, including confirming whether police had filed paperwork charging him or intended to do so.</p><p data-block-key=\"p2lkc\">On April 29, Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the office had not received cases from police concerning Sneed or the other journalists who had received police citations more than a month earlier, on March 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"f53a1\">Sneed told the Tracker on May 17 that he had received no notice that the charges were dropped against him, but said that he had expected that they would be.</p><p data-block-key=\"vep49\">Despite the lack of communication to the journalists involved, and barring further information, the Tracker is listing the charges against Sneed as “dropped” based on the lack of paperwork filed.</p><p data-block-key=\"peft4\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Robert “Chip” Sneed (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photographer arrested while covering protest at LA’s Echo Park Lake",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-arrested-while-covering-protest-at-las-echo-park-lake/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-11T20:23:07.856148Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:32.995455Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:32.903091Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9top8\">At least 19 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"omepg\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"o7j02\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oygd2\">Freelance photographer Vern Evans said he was caught in the police kettle and detained by the police the night of the protest. Evans, a <a href=\"https://www.vernevansphoto.com/\">photographer</a> for 40 years, said he sees his job as “documenting history.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yfs92\">“The police told the whole assembly to leave, but I just continued to take photos,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"80m4z\">Evans said that police handcuffed him for 3 hours and later took him to a police station where he was charged with a<a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=409.\"> 409 pc misdemeanor</a>, for failure to disperse from a place of unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"tjqul\">Evans said that according to his charge ticket, he is scheduled to appear in court on July 22. The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"sxbam\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gnyqr\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"s2mjd\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0xgjn\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"cfgo9\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u30yy\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:37:00+00:00) Charges dropped against photographer arrested while covering protest at LA’s Echo Park Lake"
],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist detained during Echo Park Lake protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-during-echo-park-lake-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-07T17:17:25.222201Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:05.374382Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:52:05.294449Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x4jj5\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"zyint\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nlhf\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6agui\">Independent journalist Stephen Oduntan, whose work has been published by <a href=\"https://www.reelurbannews.com/\">Reel Urban News</a> and <a href=\"https://www.digmaglb.com/\">Dig Mag</a>, said he was on assignment for <a href=\"https://www.lafocusnewspaper.com/\">LA Focus Newspaper</a> the night of the protest when he was detained in the kettle with protesters and other journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"ju4x7\">In a video <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CM435xPAlHi/\">posted</a> by Oduntan on Instagram, police officers can be heard announcing, “You are all under arrest, you are no longer free to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uetnq\">In the description accompanying the video post Oduntan wrote, “Shortly after LAPD’s announcement, they began rounding up peaceful demonstrators as well as multiple reporters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"chdjd\">Oduntan told the Tracker over email, “At one point, a journalist — I believe with Spectrum — who was standing a few feet from me was arrested. I was sure it was only a matter of time before they'd slash the cuffs on me too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8egd8\">“But after standing on a crowded sidewalk for over an hour, LAPD all of a sudden announced that members of the press should raise their hands and credentials,” Oduntan said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jkull\">Oduntan said that he and a few other journalists were released, one at a time, after the police verified their press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"k2aae\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2wble\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.<br/><br/> “An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n0a21\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"9lw2s\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2u8zi\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ibrzi\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Stephen Oduntan (LA Focus Newspaper)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Student journalist arrested while covering protest at LA’s Echo Park Lake",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-arrested-while-covering-protest-at-las-echo-park-lake/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-07T13:15:43.369314Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:51:42.146419Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:51:42.032974Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ayzgt\">At least 19 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"xoojh\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"q0u8m\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l8zf1\">Keliyah “Gigi” Williams, a student journalist for the <a href=\"https://collegian.lacc.life/\">Los Angeles Collegian</a>, a news site aimed at students throughout Los Angeles County, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was among the journalists trapped in the kettle that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n2jv\">“For nearly 2 hours I was kept there until they corralled us into a corner,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wch1r\">Williams said that when police eventually asked journalists to identify themselves, “I immediately went up and let them know I was affiliated with LACC’s [Los Angeles City College] Collegian.” Williams said she began to pull up her press identification on her phone, but “before it even loaded they let me know they would not be accepting it,” she told the Tracker. They “did not even take the time to check,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"183p4\">According to Williams, as soon as she moved back to join the crowd, a police officer pointed her out and she was arrested. “Ultimately, I was handcuffed for 2 more hours, transported to the station,” and charged with a <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=409.\">409 violation</a> misdemeanor, for failure to disperse from the place of an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"xr1vg\">Williams said according to her charge ticket, she is scheduled to appear in court on July 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"iakrc\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fdyfu\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"n52mk\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bhyws\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"3fp4y\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8drbt\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ih2x\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"detention_date": "2021-03-25",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:17:00+00:00) Charges dropped against student journalist arrested while covering Echo Park Lake protests"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist detained for two hours while covering LA’s Echo Lake Park protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-detained-for-two-hours-while-covering-las-echo-lake-park-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-06T17:24:33.117176Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:51:17.742076Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:51:17.646512Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3vkp9\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2f2y\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"20zir\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jrf8z\">Photojournalist Nick Stern said he was covering the protest that night as part of a documentary film project and was among the journalists detained in the kettle. Stern, whose work has been published by the Daily Mail, the BBC, and other publications, said he was held for approximately two hours before being released without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"cn1fn\">Stern said police announced a dispersal order at around 8 p.m., but he said that even though he was near the skirmish line, he didn’t hear it and instead learned about the announcement on Twitter. Then, he said, an officer walked through the protest area announcing that all journalists and legal observers must leave the area. He said that set off alarm bells, because he was concerned about what would happen to protesters after observers left.</p><p data-block-key=\"hi1lp\">“Myself, and every other journalist that I was aware of that was there, and the legal representatives, stayed put with the crowd, I think, which was the right thing to do,” Stern said.</p><p data-block-key=\"hpau9\">Stern said police moved the crowd back about five feet. The protesters then decided to continue to back up further, he said, possibly in an effort to avoid further confrontation with police. As they were retreating, he said, another line of officers came out from an alleyway, forming the kettle to block the group from the other side and preventing them from leaving.</p><p data-block-key=\"0dtar\">At that point, Stern said, he asked an officer if he could get through the police line. He said he couldn’t recall whether he identified himself as a journalist, but said that he was wearing a press identification card on a lanyard around his neck, which he frequently holds up at protests when interacting with police.</p><p data-block-key=\"npp5n\">Stern told the Tracker that the officer refused to let him go and said Stern was about to be arrested. He said that he was detained with the group for about two hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"ewhsb\">Police were moving into the crowd to detain individuals, including members of the press, one at a time, Stern said. At one point, he said, four officers came forward and arrested the journalist next to him, who was wearing a National Press Photographers Association card on a lanyard around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"zj2e5\">Stern said police never took him into individual custody. While he was held with the larger group, he said that he noticed a senior officer look towards him and say to another officer, “He’s a legit journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"afn5f\">At around 10 p.m., Stern said an officer pointed at him and told him to follow. The officer walked him through the police line and directed him to walk down the street without stopping. Stern said he followed instructions and returned to his car.</p><p data-block-key=\"svren\">Stern said he does not know why he was not taken into custody, when a number of other journalists were, even though they displayed press credentials. He said that he had two press identification cards on a lanyard around his neck, one issued by the National Press Photographers Association and the other by the British Press Photographers’ Association. He said he often displays the British card at protests because it looks different. He said he also had a helmet marked with the word “PRESS” attached to his backpack.</p><p data-block-key=\"koibt\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vs2dx\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"3wqbd\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3yuls\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"6flx4\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zogk2\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"11tfj\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nick Stern (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested, charged with failure to disperse, while covering LA’s Echo Park Lake protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-charged-with-failure-to-disperse-while-covering-las-echo-park-lake-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T20:16:48.965981Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:53.188012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:53.058405Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yna8s\">At least 19 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"4885t\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6f2e\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o9r8v\">Freelance journalist Gabriel Fuente, whose work has been published by Salon, The Kollection and 48 Hills according to his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gabefuente\">Twitter</a> bio, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was among the journalists trapped in the kettle with protesters that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"xov1g\">Fuente said that those inside the kettle tried to leave, “but police said it was too late. We were under arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zm3ru\">He said that as police continued to make arrests, media were asked to come to the front, and members of the press with press credentials were allowed to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"1yg35\">“My partner and I showed our author pages, attempting to demonstrate that we were published journalists, but this was not sufficient evidence,” Fuente said. “We needed to have a press badge.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jomk9\">Fuente told the Tracker that he was arrested along with his colleague, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kollection-eic-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">Sean Edwards</a>, editor-in-chief of The Kollection, and transported to the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Central Los Angeles. According to Fuente, he was <b>“</b>handed a ticket with the PC 409 — failure to disperse at the scene of an unlawful assembly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"21ako\">Fuente said he was released at 1 a.m. on the 26th and is scheduled to appear in court July 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"jk44n\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1otbp\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"ucyhv\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"snshv\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6l4i\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ecfh3\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxtah\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 12:46:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist arrested, charged with failure to disperse, while covering LA’s Echo Park Lake protests"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Gabriel Fuente (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist detained by LAPD during Echo Park Lake protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-by-lapd-during-echo-park-lake-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T19:52:55.239220Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:33.642674Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:33.545929Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gbrpf\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs19l\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"o94ge\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0vqwd\">Freelance journalist Austin Baffa, who said his videos have been used by CNN, Fox News and the Los Angeles Times, told the Tracker that he was covering the protest that night when police declared the assembly unlawful and gave orders to the protesters and the press to disperse and leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ppy3\">“With about a minute left before they started making arrests, the protesters began to move back and leave the area,” he said. “That’s when LAPD kettled them from an alley and declared that everyone was under arrest including press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1fqdi\">Baffa told the Tracker that over the next hour, the police arrested a number of individuals in the kettle, including some members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"sb06h\">“We all thought that we were going to get arrested and sent to jail,” he said. But eventually police told the media and remaining protesters to move to one side of the street, and members of the press were asked to show their press credentials in order to leave, according to Baffa.</p><p data-block-key=\"0y99n\">Baffa said that he was released after he showed his press credentials, issued by the National Press Photographers Association, to the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"b08qi\">The journalist also said that he experienced multiple moments of excessive force by law enforcement, including having less-lethal weapons pointed at his chest and head.</p><p data-block-key=\"jm0k1\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jbbcv\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"tiy73\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tmmcl\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7age\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"im2af\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vlim5\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Austin Baffa (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent journalist detained, shoved during Echo Park protest in Los Angeles",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-detained-shoved-during-echo-park-protest-in-los-angeles/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T19:13:03.669589Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:03.961087Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:50:03.874717Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qmduu\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"tagt0\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yc0sl\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7wcod\">Independent journalist Jeremy Lindenfeld, whose <a href=\"https://www.jlindenfeld.com/about-avenue\">website</a> says his work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Knock LA and other platforms, told the Tracker that he was among the many journalists trapped in the police kettle while covering the protest that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"i8vxa\">Lindenfeld said when he initially told the police that he was a member of the National Press Photographers Association, he was told that it was too late to leave and was shoved with a baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"hdj00\">According to Lindenfeld, he and other members of the press caught inside the “kettle” watched as police arrested protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"0jd6h\">“Press were again harassed by being told to move to one side of the street then 10 minutes later to the other side of the street for no reason at all, but to scare us,” Lindenfeld told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcezz\">After some time the police began releasing members of the press with press credentials, according to Lindenfeld. ”I was able to show them my membership to the NPPA and they released me from the kettle,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"op3s8\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d5eh4\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"407px\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ftmi\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"ba7e9\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8qcld\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8h09\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeremy Lindenfeld (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist among those detained in police ‘kettle’ while covering Echo Lake Park protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-among-those-detained-in-police-kettle-while-covering-echo-lake-park-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T18:59:13.101700Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:36.201682Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:36.039362Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p2wfx\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"kjxqy\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jpki\">According to The Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdznt\">An independent journalist, who asked to be identified only by the anonymized Twitter handle of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/\">@desertborder</a>, told the Tracker he was among those detained in the kettle for approximately two hours.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It's been awhile since the last time I was kettled. It sucks, in case anyone was wondering</p>— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/status/1375299615453409284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"h8d34\">The journalist said that moments before police trapped the crowd in a kettle, the protesters had begun marching backward in unison, in apparent compliance with a police dispersal order given at around 7:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"sbno9\">“The crowd was actively retreating when all of a sudden the crowd broke and people started running,” @desertborder said. “I turned around and looked, and another line of riot cops had come up and blocked us in from behind. There was another side street that they were blocking too, so there was no exit at that point,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"efd9a\">@desertborder said that he stood on a sidewalk, to the side of the main body of protesters, as police began making individual arrests. He and other journalists stayed on the sidelines of the kettle, he said, “to avoid getting arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"shfvj\">“I showed an officer my press badge and I said, ‘Hey, I’m press, can I leave?’ And he told me, ‘No. Press was told to leave and you didn’t. You were given a lawful order and you didn’t comply. Now you’re under arrest too,’” the journalist said. “And I thought, ‘Ah hell, alright. I guess I’m going to jail tonight.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"0w2g0\">@desertborder said that while he continued filming the arrests, an officer pointed a crowd-control weapon directly at him and other members of the press. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a>, a reporter for digital news site L.A. Taco, captured the incident <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008\">on video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"j1cly\">“They came in to make an arrest over by the sidewalk,” the journalist said. “[The officer] was pointing a less-lethal shotgun [used to fire crowd-control munitions] a few inches from our faces and was just really angry and really aggressive, screaming ‘Get back!’ But there was nowhere for us to go, because there was a line of riot cops behind us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w1arp\">“I really thought he was going to blast us,” @desertborder said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbc0w\">About an hour later, he said, journalists standing on one edge of the kettle were told to join those on the opposite edge. @desertborder said he took that as a sign that police might be preparing to let them go without arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8ff3\">“An officer told us, ‘If you don’t have press credentials, just get off the sidewalk and get back with the rest of them,’” the journalist said, “obviously implying that you were going to be arrested if you didn’t have credentials.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">They moved all the press over to this corner. An officer told us if we don't have press credentials we "might as well go back over there" with the crowd of protesters getting arrested. LAPD policy, as handed down by Chief Moore himself, is that press does not need credentials</p>— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/status/1375307977389789184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"rayg6\">Shortly after 10 p.m., @desertborder said, the LAPD began allowing members of the press who had press passes to leave the kettle; he said he was able to show the officers his credentials, issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and was permitted to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"452tz\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"676b1\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"0jdss\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w59ky\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbzam\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ic9p\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"jol9k\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist charged with failure to disperse while reporting at Echo Park Lake demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-charged-with-failure-to-disperse-while-reporting-at-echo-park-lake-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:53:25.446920Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:12.503430Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7ue1p\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"nakjd\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8w124\">According to The Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6fhqy\">Independent journalist and documentary producer Steven Gute told the Tracker that at around 7:15 p.m. he’d arrived at the north entrance of the park, where demonstrators had gathered for the second night in a row. LAPD officers had established a perimeter around the park and a crowd had gathered near the intersection of Park Avenue and Lemoyne Street, facing off with a line of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5l8v\">In footage Gute <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/stevegute/videos/10101799230859089\">posted to Facebook</a>, the crowd can be seen backing away from the officers in sync, chanting, “One! Two! One! Two!” Seconds later, an officer can be heard announcing, “You are all under arrest. You are no longer free to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lxuqh\">Gute told the Tracker that he did not hear officers give a dispersal warning or order members of the press to relocate to a media staging area.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhu61\">“While we were kettled and sandwiched together, officers started arresting people one by one,” Gute said. The video posted to Gute’s Facebook ends with a clip from another angle showing officers placing him under arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"wq1ps\">Gute told the Tracker he has credentials from the National Press Photographers Association but was not wearing them that night. He identified himself as press when officers approached him, he said, but they still arrested him.</p><p data-block-key=\"61cau\">“After they grabbed me, they put the flex cuffs on and we sat around for at least an hour and a half or two hours on the sidewalk waiting for the buses to come,” Gute said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ryyjy\">Gute said he was transported to the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Los Angeles, where he was processed and charged with failure to disperse, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000, according to California’s <a href=\"https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/409/#:~:text=Penal%20Code%20409%20PC%20is,fine%20of%20up%20to%20%241000.00.\">penal code</a>. Gute said he was released shortly after midnight.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfsjv\">Gute’s citation orders him to appear in court for a hearing on July 22 at 8 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l8fb\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lnfbq\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"g524r\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u403s\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnj63\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8q5t6\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"nr6g8\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist detained, shoved while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-detained-shoved-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:46:43.871760Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:48:47.282361Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4obsx\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"sta1k\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmao0\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0btwz\">Freelance photojournalist Joey Scott told the Tracker via email that he’d heard police give an order to disperse that night, telling legal observers and members of the press in particular to leave the area, but that he “stayed to do my job and document what was happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9x1qs\">Soon, though, he was trapped with protesters in the kettle. “I was shoved by a police officer who was setting up the skirmish line, pushing me back into the kettled group and not allowing me to leave,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"s2kd5\">Scott told the Tracker that he and other members of the media identified themselves as press to the police but were told that in order to leave the kettled area officers would need to speak to their supervisor, an effort that, according to Scott, “never happened.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j3nk0\">“We were detained for over two hours as they arrested people one by one,” Scott said. He posted multiple <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1375305994297729024\">videos</a> on Twitter showing police making arrests. Find all documented press freedom violations, including arrests, from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7akmc\">“Police used force arresting people and pointed shotguns with bean bag rounds at members of the press and protesters,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqnxo\">After roughly two hours, Scott said the press were told to show their credentials in order to leave the area. “I was told to leave the area and not to return unless I wanted to be arrested,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0piv\">After being released from the area, Scott said, members of the press were not able to talk to any police officials and requests for information were ignored.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7oog\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64box\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"yzew2\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ehitd\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7ien\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jx5jn\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Kollection EIC arrested while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kollection-eic-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:25:47.717553Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:47:24.097446Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nkigm\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tn1b\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"j3303\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"x13go\">Sean Edwards, editor-in-chief of <a href=\"https://thekollection.com/\">The Kollection</a>, an LA-based lifestyle brand with an editorial arm focused on music and youth culture, told the Tracker via email that he was caught in the kettle. “They began to arrest the crowd and press one by one,” he said. “They did not allow me and other members of independent press to identify ourselves.” He said he had his notebook and camera out, as well as photo identification with proof of employment and bylines at the Kollection.</p><p data-block-key=\"9m19i\">Shortly after 10 p.m., Edwards said LAPD arrested him, detaining him and other journalists at the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Central Los Angeles. He said he was booked for a 409 violation for, according to Edwards, “failure to disperse at the scene of an unlawful assembly” and charged with a misdemeanor. Edwards said officers released him around 1 a.m. on the 26th and returned his belongings to him. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"cal1v\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"http://twitter/\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fsh5b\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"pf14g\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"er8f8\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfkoq\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals inside the kettle were detained, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hsfx6\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ja0py\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"(2021-04-07 13:28:00+00:00) Charges dropped against Kollection EIC arrested while covering Echo Park protest"
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{
"title": "Independent photojournalist hit with rubber bullets while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-hit-with-rubber-bullets-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T14:59:32.018716Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:47:00.025131Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:59.946566Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5qhxk\">Independent photojournalist Christian Monterrosa told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was hit with rubber bullets fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March, 25, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"hw2t7\">Crowds had gathered at Echo Park Lake to demonstrate against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>. According to the Post, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., but before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"072v4\">Monterrosa told the Tracker he got caught in the police kettle. “I thought it was weird [that we were asked to leave] because press and National Lawyers Guild are the ones that stay until the end once the crowd has been dispersed and it’s how we’re able to report on these arrests,” he said. He said police cut off the alleyway where protesters were exiting and created a line of officers to rush the crowd. He said officers shoved demonstrators who were standing in front of him, pushing them into him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebu8d\">“I was able to get out, from luck,” Monterrosa said. He showed his LAPD-issued and National Press Photographers Association credentials to an officer, who let him and two other journalists leave the area after the commanding officer looked at the press badges.</p><p data-block-key=\"p5obe\">He told the Tracker he then moved one block north of the area to cover another skirmish between police and protesters. “There was a huge, huge presence of incoming police,” Monterrosa added. “I’ve never seen so many cops at any of the demonstrations I’ve been to in LA.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d6cvm\">He said the protesters started retreating after they saw the police coming, but the officers “heavily enforced dispersal [with] less than lethal weapons” and fired indiscriminately into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kv6o\">That was when he was hit by rubber bullets <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1375540498471944195?s=20\">in the abdomen</a> and right forearm, according to Monterrosa. “I was well aware of my rights and where I can and cannot be in these situations. I wasn’t engaging verbally,” Monterrosa, who also chair’s the NPPA’s west region, said. “All I had were my camera and helmet [and] was walking backwards.” He said he retreated to a safe area to apply bandages from his first aid kit.</p><p data-block-key=\"ofmps\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375289668346900480\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"63muu\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"potmd\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uesnm\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mmemb\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals inside the kettle were detained, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gckjn\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnhv9\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained and several assaulted while covering the protest, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Independent photojournalist detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T14:06:34.009849Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:38.313214Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:38.220231Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jdtzs\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"iw1kh\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"136gq\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xc6hh\">Independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama said she was caught in the police kettle while she was live on her Instagram and taking photographs. “I was hit on the back with an officer’s baton,” she told the Tracker in an email. She said she was repeatedly shoved by an officer and asked to leave the area, but “there was literally no where to go” because she was stuck between the officers and the protesters. She said she had her National Press Photographers Association credentials, but the officer<a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1375351320119406595?s=20\"> kept shoving her</a> until some protesters pulled her away.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sm7d\">“We were first told that we were no longer free to leave and that we would be arrested. After explaining to some officers that we were press, they initially said, ‘It’s too late,’” Balderrama said. “At one point as they went to arrest a protester right next to me, they tackled him and he fell into me, [and] when I looked up, an LAPD officer was pointing a less than lethal weapon directly at my face at point blank range.”</p><p data-block-key=\"chh3i\">Balderrama tweeted a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1375475186955214850?s=20\"> video</a> of this arrest, in which she can be heard yelling, “We can’t go anywhere. There’s another line of you guys right there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oxjqq\">Balderrama said that even though her credentials were around her neck, she was told multiple times that she would be arrested. “They then moved us all and made press mix with protesters, which worried me greatly, that they would not even take the time to check my credentials.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2gw2d\">She told the Tracker that after being detained for two hours, she was allowed to leave. “As we walked out, they told us where the press viewing was, which was on the next block over, with absolutely no visibility of [the] incident,” she added.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwtf9\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375289668346900480\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zl6tb\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"adq7t\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement said. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s24ik\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"9sj3y\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals were being detained inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vj1w4\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"m98px\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASMZ0.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ombcc\">Los Angeles police arrive on March 24, 2021, to begin the eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles. At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained the following day while covering protests against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ashley Balderrama (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "While documenting LA’s Echo Park protest, videographer arrested, charged with failure to disperse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/while-documenting-las-echo-park-protest-videographer-arrested-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T22:40:31.459897Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:14.883060Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:14.782177Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f4z7g\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy79b\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6j8w\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"isbrf\">Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was one of the journalists covering the demonstrations who became trapped with protesters in the police kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bmpi\">“At that point, my mindset was: I’m going to be arrested. I can either be arrested and do my job or be arrested and not do my job,” Beckner-Carmitchel said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypwjw\">In footage <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CM365X2gErq/\">posted to Instagram</a>, Beckner-Carmitchel narrates that the crowd has been kettled on Lemoyne Street between Sunset Boulevard and Park Avenue. He appears to be on a sidewalk as he films individuals standing in the street, who are arrested, one by one, by police. Approximately 38 minutes into the footage, officers approach Beckner-Carmitchel and ask that he come with them.</p><p data-block-key=\"imi7p\">As Beckner-Carmitchel agrees and hands his equipment to one of the officers, some who remain inside the kettle can be heard booing and shouting that he is a member of the press. Beckner-Carmitchel can be heard telling officers that he is wearing a press credential from the National Press Photographers Association, which advocates for visual journalists in print, broadcast and digital newsrooms as well as freelancers.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqz9o\">When asked what would happen next, an officer can be heard telling Beckner-Carmitchel that he will be transferred to a police bus that would take him to a “staging” area; once there, the officer says, Beckner-Carmitchel would be cited and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qm6p\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that before being loaded onto the bus, a public information officer who knows the journalist spoke with one of his arresting officers, but did not intervene to stop the arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"drmry\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally — who was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained that night</a> — <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375343567858638852\">tweeted</a> at midnight that Beckner-Carmitchel was still being held in police custody. In a subsequent tweet Queally said that the LAPD informed him that Beckner-Carmitchel was being held because the department “doesn’t recognize” the credentials he was wearing, and because he had not gone to a “media area” set up by police some distance away from the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Only information I could get out is that LAPD doesn't recognize Sean's NPPA credential and another complaint about him not being in the media pen. He's not answering my texts either. Unfortunately, this means he's probably still in custody. <a href=\"https://t.co/D1lQVQMz4p\">https://t.co/D1lQVQMz4p</a></p>— James Queally (@JamesQueallyLAT) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375356367293194241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"06n65\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that other journalists with NPPA credentials were released from the kettle without being arrested, and that, from the media staging area set up by police, it would have been impossible to see what was happening inside the kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"uu81o\">Beckner-Carmitchel later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1375358411445989376\">tweeted</a> that he had been released shortly after 1 a.m. on March 26 with a failure to disperse charge, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000, according to California’s<a href=\"https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/409/#:~:text=Penal%20Code%20409%20PC%20is,fine%20of%20up%20to%20%241000.00.\"> penal code</a>. Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he was the last person to be released from the open booking area at the Metropolitan Detention Center where he was processed.</p><p data-block-key=\"xihrg\">His citation, which he shared with the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the Tracker, orders him to appear for a hearing on July 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"cx2m8\">“My frustration right now is I could be cutting together 45 hours of footage and doing a report about the people of Echo Park Lake and the activists involved over the past two days,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker. “Instead, I’m talking to lawyers and checking my Twitter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ud4op\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jcx3h\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, as Beckner-Carmitchel was being released, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted a statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"9a8dt\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1p3bh\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"emxxn\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g2tyo\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1ovs\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASOOD.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nuunj\">Los Angeles Police Department officers arrive at Echo Park Lake to evict homeless encampments on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were arrested or detained while documenting demonstrations against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:21:00+00:00) Charges dropped against videographer arrested while documenting Echo Park Lake protest"
],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter for Knock LA arrested with colleague while covering Echo Park protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T21:06:13.051259Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:49.196832Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:49.072208Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k50yy\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"ubzup\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"v5318\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t8e2h\">Kate Gallagher, who was reporting on the protest for the nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was covering the protest with her colleague <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/\">Jonathan Peltz</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"djwvc\">She said police made an announcement directing journalists and legal observers to disperse around 8 p.m., but she said the announcement was difficult to hear and she only learned about it on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ff01\">Gallagher said she was concerned about what police planned next for the protesters, so she decided to stay and continue reporting. Meanwhile, police had set up a pen for media several blocks away, but a number of other journalists also decided to stay at the scene of the protest, according to Peltz, the other Knock LA reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzlvz\">About 20 minutes later, Gallagher said, police started to form a kettle to detain the group. Gallagher and Peltz were standing with about a dozen other journalists at the time, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmjhq\">“No one really seemed very alarmed at first,” she said. According to Gallagher, journalists did not expect that police would arrest them because they were there covering the scene, not as part of the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"h6iqt\">She said that it became clear that journalists were also going to be arrested when one member of the press tried to leave the police kettle and was not allowed to go.</p><p data-block-key=\"oh1br\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476\">tweet</a> from the Knock LA Twitter account posted at 9:45 p.m. said that Peltz and Gallagher were arrested by the LAPD while they were covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Two of our reporters have been arrested at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/EchoParkRiseUp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EchoParkRiseUp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/T1zeBPm7Dw\">pic.twitter.com/T1zeBPm7Dw</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"s0kx1\">The publication called for police to release the journalists immediately and demanded that any charges be dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2skv\">“Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job,” the statement reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"tvvlx\">Gallagher said that she identified herself as a journalist several times during her interactions with the police, including when police were forming the kettle, again when she was patted down during her arrest, and as she was loaded onto a bus to be transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"gtvfd\">Gallagher and Peltz were released from the detention center at around 12:30 a.m. March 26, she said, and she was ordered to appear in court on July 30 on a charge of failure to disperse.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UPDATE: Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher are free. Thank you to everyone who advocated for their release. <a href=\"https://t.co/wB0eiqiKcF\">pic.twitter.com/wB0eiqiKcF</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375352329537396737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"qz9lw\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3xw7\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"hxc3p\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wsxyx\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mjjmp\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7k13k\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4n6iq\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASN99.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"d6pkr\">Los Angeles Police Department officers arrive at Echo Park Lake to evict homeless encampments. Protests against the eviction on March 25, 2021 resulted in the arrests or detentions of at least 19 journalists while reporting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
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"case_number": "2:22-cv-03106",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:11:00+00:00) Charges dropped against Knock LA reporter arrested with colleague while covering Echo Park protest in L.A.",
"(2022-05-09 15:37:00+00:00) Knock LA journalists sue Los Angeles Police Department following arrests in 2021"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kate Gallagher (Knock LA)"
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},
{
"title": "Spectrum News 1 reporter detained while covering protest at LA’s Echo Park",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-1-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-at-las-echo-park/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T20:33:29.615774Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:27.535253Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:27.441477Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0us7d\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jem2\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"glabh\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"85f9t\">Kate Cagle, an anchor and reporter for Spectrum News 1 SoCal, a local Los Angeles news channel, was among the journalists detained while she was covering the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ysbd\">Cagle posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375286960026087434\">on Twitter</a> at 8:22 p.m. that she was being held in the kettle at Echo Lake Park. A few minutes later, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375288888474824707\">posted</a> a video of protesters and police, explaining that the group was being held between two lines of police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"8wbaw\">At around 9 p.m. Cagle<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375297046941364226\"> tweeted</a> that an officer announced that everyone was being arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"csa50\">In a video Cagle later posted on Twitter, two officers are leading Cagle away from the camera. She can be heard saying, “Wait, I’m with Spectrum News 1!” and saying that she needs to stay with the members of her crew.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"Wait. I'm with Spectrum News 1."<br><br>"I have to stay with my crew."<br><br>This is the moment three LAPD officers pulled me from a crowd of protestors and zip tied my hands tonight at Echo Park Lake. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpecNews1SoCal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SpecNews1SoCal</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/jwSBFgpsSc\">pic.twitter.com/jwSBFgpsSc</a></p>— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375344934081884162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"yb97v\">At 10:03 p.m., Cagle<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375312494042836997\"> posted</a> that she had been released.</p><p data-block-key=\"zefnv\">She wrote on Twitter that she identified herself as a Spectrum News 1 reporter and showed a press pass issued by Los Angeles County. She said she also texted her location to the LAPD public information officer, and her newsroom called a police supervisor.</p><p data-block-key=\"3xhi5\">“They still handcuffed me,” she wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just to be crystal clear - I identified myself as a reporter for Spectrum News 1 and showed my LA County press pass. <br><br>- I told the officers who corralled us<br>- texted LAPD’s PIO my location<br>- my newsroom called their supervisor<br><br>They still handcuffed me.</p>— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375332495390953475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"kknmv\">While she was detained in the kettle, Cagle posted on Twitter that she was with two freelance photographers who were live-streaming for Spectrum News 1. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has not been able to identify the two photojournalists, and Cagle did not respond to a request for comment. Efforts to reach newsroom leaders of Spectrum News 1 were not successful, but the channel’s news site confirmed in <a href=\"https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/homelessness/2021/03/26/lapd-declares-unlawful-assembly-at-echo-park\">an article</a> that Cagle had been detained and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"fp8hn\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q7t21\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"2wz6a\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xhlc7\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"17vem\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"suw05\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g9j9\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXATS8W.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4eaoy\">Protesters clash with Los Angeles Police Department officers during an eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in California on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were arrested or detained during the demonstrations.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kate Cagle (Spectrum News 1 | Southern California)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Knock LA reporter arrested while covering Echo Park protest, charged with failure to disperse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T19:42:04.148375Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:44:31.727621Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:44:31.623369Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c3k04\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqo0j\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0bmfb\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n0wlj\">Jonathan Peltz, a reporter for nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the protest with his colleague <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/\">Kate Gallagher</a>. Police made an announcement to disperse at around 7:45 p.m, but the message was inaudible to him and most of those present, Peltz said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jr99\">About 15 minutes later, an officer ordered members of the media and legal observers to disperse. The police designated a pen for media that was several blocks away, according to Peltz, but he said he wasn’t concerned because there were other journalists around him.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqgq0\">“From my perspective, you know, I was doing my job,” he said. “This was where the protest was happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fti6m\">Peltz said that protesters began to move up the street away from the police line when law enforcement moved in to “kettle” the group and began arresting people.</p><p data-block-key=\"6tmkm\">Peltz told the Tracker that he repeated to police that he and his colleague were journalists. He said he heard other people nearby say that they were press, too.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7cd1\">Peltz said he continued to record video of the confrontation until 8:35 p.m.; he said he noted the time on his camera just before officers restrained his wrists in zip-tie cuffs. He asked the officer who was recording his personal information what he was being charged with, but the officer did not know.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ytlv\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476\">tweet</a> from the Knock LA Twitter account posted at 9:45 p.m. said that Peltz and Gallagher were arrested by the LAPD while they were covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Two of our reporters have been arrested at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/EchoParkRiseUp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EchoParkRiseUp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/T1zeBPm7Dw\">pic.twitter.com/T1zeBPm7Dw</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"472cx\">Knock LA called for police to release its journalists immediately, and demanded that any charges be dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"oaztr\">“Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job,” the statement reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"5foy5\">Peltz told the Tracker he again identified himself as a journalist to police as he was loaded onto a bus with other people who had been arrested. They were transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center, where he was processed. Peltz said his wrists were zip tied so tightly that his hands went numb.</p><p data-block-key=\"ga1dm\">He said he was released at around 12:30 a.m. on March 26 but was ordered to appear in court on July 30 on a charge of failure to disperse.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UPDATE: Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher are free. Thank you to everyone who advocated for their release. <a href=\"https://t.co/wB0eiqiKcF\">pic.twitter.com/wB0eiqiKcF</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375352329537396737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"gnu49\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bf7er\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v4pm\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2fbc8\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"f5uh8\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a3nxs\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tf66\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dnaze\">Los Angeles Police Department assemble near Echo Park Lake amid evictions of homeless encampments there on March 25, 2021. At least 19 journalists were arrested or detained while covering demonstrations against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "2:22-cv-03106",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:03:00+00:00) Charges dropped against reporter for community news site Knock LA",
"(2022-05-09 15:35:00+00:00) Knock LA journalists sue Los Angeles Police Department following arrests in 2021"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Jonathan Peltz (Knock LA)"
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},
{
"title": "L.A. Taco reporter detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T19:22:15.691865Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-06T17:37:21.847612Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-06T17:37:21.716928Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7e2f0\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kkag\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gf7yl\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a17kg\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375336323779756033\">tweeted</a> that he and reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, who writes for the digital news site L.A. Taco, were standing next to each other inside the “kettle” as police faced off with protesters. Queally noted that just a week earlier, he had written <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/journalist-accused-lapd-assault-police-tried-to-have-him-prosecuted\">a story</a> for the Times about the “failure to disperse” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-receives-failure-to-disperse-charge-four-months-after-documenting-dodgers-celebrations/\">charges brought against Ray</a> by the LAPD months after he was covering another incident in downtown L.A.</p><p data-block-key=\"5nl9w\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487\">tweeted</a> that he and Queally were trying to stick together after the crowd was boxed in, and he posted footage he took as Queally was led away by officers and placed in zip-tie cuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"cva93\">Ray confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008\">continued filming</a> as officers arrested more individuals in the kettle — sometimes violently. In the footage, Ray can be heard saying, “Why are you pointing this [weapon] at me? I’m with the media,” as an officer trains his weapon on Ray’s chest and face.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD violently arresting a protestor earlier near Lemoyne and Park Ave. Dozens of protestors and media have been boxed in. Nobody is able to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/3hh6kOLERi\">pic.twitter.com/3hh6kOLERi</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"wtdze\">Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339116229849089\">tweeted</a> that after his arrest and release 30 minutes later, Ray called him and said that he was still detained in the kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"06e0j\">“I managed to get hold of an officer in media relations who rushed to do something about it,” Queally wrote. “I’m still worried he might have gotten arrested otherwise.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wo8jm\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375316638359154690\">tweeted</a> at around 10:30 p.m. that he had been released, along with other members of the press, without being formally arrested.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD has let me and a group of press go without detaining us. They made us all show our press passes to avoid arrest. I'm safe 🙏🏾 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/z1nuIuyUxI\">pic.twitter.com/z1nuIuyUxI</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375316638359154690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"tmwrz\">“They held us there for more than an hour and then let people go if they had a press pass,” Ray told the Tracker. “Last year they said press could self-ID but I think they only let people go [that night] if they approved their press pass.”</p><p data-block-key=\"daqh8\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64thj\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sbda\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qgt13\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"einov\">About the media area, Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339961977696258\">tweeted</a>, “Media pens are deliberately setup to keep reporters AWAY from news. Tonight was no different. It was nowhere near the protests or action in the park.”</p><p data-block-key=\"699ro\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpbr7\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jpcw\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cb9um\">Los Angeles Police Department officers detain protesters demonstrating against the closure of a homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were also arrested or detained.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lexis-Olivier Ray (L.A. Taco)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "LA Times reporter among multiple journalists detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T18:53:48.947090Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:43:39.241495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:43:39.141540Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gsbmq\">At least 13 or more journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"3un9c\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"oy0ef\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o6919\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375336323779756033\">tweeted</a> that he and Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for the digital site L.A. Taco, were standing next to each other inside the “kettle” as police faced off with protesters. Queally noted that just a week earlier, he had written <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/journalist-accused-lapd-assault-police-tried-to-have-him-prosecuted\">a story</a> for the Times about the “failure to disperse” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-receives-failure-to-disperse-charge-four-months-after-documenting-dodgers-celebrations/\">charges brought against Ray</a> by the LAPD, months after Ray was covering another incident in downtown LA.</p><p data-block-key=\"amgss\">“We [Queally and Ray] were looking at each other, asking, ‘Is it going to happen again?’ and of course, it did,” Queally told The Post of the detainment.</p><p data-block-key=\"72l88\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487\">captured the moment</a> around 8:30 p.m. when LAPD officers led Queally out of the kettle and placed him in zip-tie cuffs.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">L.A. Times crime reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JamesQueallyLAT</a> being taken into custody earlier. We all got boxed in. James and I were trying to stick together. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/l6TWtXRjow\">pic.twitter.com/l6TWtXRjow</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</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=\"cv7hw\">“I announced myself as press several times, and credit to the arresting officers, they checked my credential pretty quickly and got a supervisor,” Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375337667592740865\">tweeted</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5gpn\">Queally could not immediately be reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker for comment, but according to The Post, he was wearing an LAPD-issued press pass around his neck when he was arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"0rljk\">In his tweet thread, Queally wrote that the supervisor who was called in by the arresting officers “didn’t care I was press,” and told him, “this is the policy tonight.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dmu2t\">The Post reported that attorneys and a managing editor for the Times contacted Queally and secured his release after approximately 30 minutes, just as he was about to board a transport bus.</p><p data-block-key=\"zajnh\">Shortly after Queally’s arrest, the LAPD put out a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"twi5g\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainment of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"i1knx\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"h623s\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves to police and then move off to a designated media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"ql5g2\">About the media area, Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339961977696258\">tweeted</a>, “Media pens are deliberately setup to keep reporters AWAY from news. Tonight was no different. It was nowhere near the protests or action in the park.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hmmxf\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"udean\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to an emailed request from the Tracker for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"13hxg\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests from the protest and subsequent kettle in Echo Park <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cp0w3\">Los Angeles Police Department officers detain protesters demonstrating against the closure of a homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021. At least a dozen journalists were also arrested or detained.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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],
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"James Queally (Los Angeles Times)"
],
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}
]
