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{
"title": "Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist pepper-sprayed while documenting protests in Brooklyn Center",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minneapolis-star-tribune-photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-while-documenting-protests-in-brooklyn-center/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-22T13:50:58.961581Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:23:44.022875Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:23:43.918197Z",
"date": "2021-04-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Brooklyn Center",
"longitude": -93.33273,
"latitude": 45.07608,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xq2ru\">Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist Carlos Gonzalez was pepper-sprayed while covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 12, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qf8y\">Demonstrators had gathered in front of the Brooklyn Center Police Department to demand justice in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black man, who was fatally shot by a white police officer on April 11.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2j28\">Gonzalez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he’d arrived in the afternoon to document the second night of protests in front of the police department. At around 7:50 p.m., he said, he noticed an agitated woman confronting the police and being held back by others at the demonstration.</p><p data-block-key=\"vbzr2\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CarlosGphoto/status/1381794769182023682\">footage</a> Gonzalez posted to Twitter shortly after the incident, the woman can be seen confronting a line of officers in front of the department. Moments later, an officer can be seen shooting a burst of pepper spray at an individual out of frame, then turning and spraying Gonzalez.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was pepper sprayed in the eye while photographing the scene at the Brooklyn Center Police Department. I had cameras & my press credentials clearly in view. It came from the side w/o warning I was shooting so I didn’t even see it coming. This is a GoPro version of the incident. <a href=\"https://t.co/TIhzsnG1Ri\">pic.twitter.com/TIhzsnG1Ri</a></p>— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CarlosGphoto/status/1381794769182023682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 13, 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=\"elb0e\">“I felt the spray come into my eye from my right side, so I didn’t even see it coming,” Gonzalez said. “It was obvious that I wasn’t agitating anyone, that I was documenting and not part of the protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xhkie\">Gonzalez said he didn’t want to speculate on what the officer was thinking but noted that he was clearly identifiable as a member of the press; Gonzalez said he was not only carrying his professional camera but had both his standard press pass and a large yellow “PRESS” card — which the Star Tribune issued all of its journalists last year — around his neck in plain view.</p><p data-block-key=\"43jaz\">“I walked away almost immediately and was trying to retrieve some pepper-spray wipes that I had in my pack, but my hands were all wet and I couldn’t get them,” Gonzalez said. “Some medics must’ve seen what happened and came over to me quickly and were able to help.</p><p data-block-key=\"57la5\">“At that point I was in significant pain for some time, so after I was able to open my eyes again, I went back to my car to collect myself. While there, I started editing some of my pictures and talked to my editor to tell them what happened and that I might have captured it on my GoPro.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aaq6e\">Gonzalez told the Tracker he doesn’t remember whether he returned to document the rest of the protest that night or not, as the days have blurred together.</p><p data-block-key=\"jdb79\">“Obviously it was a protest and a bunch of things were going on,” Gonzalez said. “But the main point is that myself, my colleagues, all the other press out there — we’re out there working, being professionals. We’re not chanting and yelling and getting in cops’ faces, or anything like that. I think it’s pretty obvious to distinguish who we are.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6rb0j\">Two other Star Tribune journalists were assaulted during protests that day. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"g31f3\">CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brooklyn-center-police-shooting-04-13-21/index.html\">reported</a> the following day that City Manager Curt Boganey was fired over the city’s response to the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"4577g\">The Brooklyn Center Police Department did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment as of press time.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Carlos Gonzalez (Minneapolis Star Tribune)"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with crowd-control munition during Brooklyn Center protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-crowd-control-munition-during-brooklyn-center-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-20T20:34:02.965761Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:23:21.190248Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:23:21.075910Z",
"date": "2021-04-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Brooklyn Center",
"longitude": -93.33273,
"latitude": 45.07608,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ot6ln\">Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist Mark Vancleave was struck in the hand with a rubber bullet while covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 12, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"xxuv7\">Demonstrators had gathered in front of the Brooklyn Center Police Department to demand justice in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black man, who was fatally shot by a white police officer on April 11.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0h9d\">Vancleave told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he’d arrived at the police department at around 3 p.m. to document the second day of protests. The scheduled protest ended shortly before a curfew went into effect, at 7 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"xx106\">“A lot of people left at that time. A lot of other protesters showed up. And things got more tense, more confrontational, more aggressive between the cops and protesters,” Vancleave said. “There was a lot of back and forth between protesters — with people throwing water bottles, fireworks, those kinds of things — and the police, responding with tear gas, concussion or flash-bang grenades, and mace.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bjjtq\">At approximately 9 p.m., Vancleave said, he was struck in the hand with a rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"dr231\">“I was holding my camera in front of me, and was wearing a Kevlar vest and gas mask with a large polycarbonate plastic visor when the rubber bullet struck the hand I was holding the camera with,” Vancleave said. “I had some lacerations on my middle finger and then two broken bones in my ring finger.”</p><p data-block-key=\"36y6l\">Vancleave told the Tracker he was also identifiable as press by his press ID and a large yellow rectangular “PRESS” card — which the Star Tribune issued all of its journalists last year — though they were partially obscured by his coat at the moment he was struck.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q3ea\">Vancleave said he was working alongside a freelance videojournalist on assignment for PBS Frontline, who was able to help him receive initial aid from field medics. He said that once he was able to locate other staff from the Star Tribune, they transported him to a local hospital, where he was held overnight until he could receive surgery the following day.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On Monday night I was shot in the hand by a rubber bullet fired by police in Brooklyn Center while covering a protest. The impact broke my ring finger in two places requiring surgery. I won’t be able to pick up my camera again for at least six weeks. <a href=\"https://t.co/IcPfjbVug4\">pic.twitter.com/IcPfjbVug4</a></p>— Mark Vancleave (@MDVancleave) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MDVancleave/status/1383514640001363974?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=\"yjr70\">“I won’t be able to hold any weight in my hand for weeks at least, and I have no idea when I’ll be able to work again,” Vancleave said. “I’m just grateful that I had some colleagues that I had paired up with for just this reason, watching each other’s backs, and had a good enough exit strategy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sgavw\">Two other Star Tribune journalists were assaulted during protests that day. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3uys9\">A few days after he was injured, Vancleave <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MDVancleave/status/1383520588153585675\">tweeted</a>, “I remain deeply concerned for my fellow journalists working to fairly and accurately report on the crisis unfolding in our communities — particularly as Minnesota law enforcement continues to target journalists with force and disregard [their] constitutionally protected role.”</p><p data-block-key=\"owg0i\">CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brooklyn-center-police-shooting-04-13-21/index.html\">reported</a> on April 13 that City Manager Curt Boganey was fired over the city’s response to the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"y532g\">The Brooklyn Center Police Department did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gn5xh\">Two bones were broken in the ring finger of Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist Mark Vancleave, who was struck with a rubber bullet while covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 12, 2021.</p>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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],
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"Mark Vancleave (Minneapolis Star Tribune)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist hit by pepper balls while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-by-pepper-balls-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-09T18:15:59.655030Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T19:48:45.337125Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T19:48:45.255960Z",
"date": "2021-04-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yhhox\">James Croxton, managing editor of Oregon-based independent media collective <a href=\"https://doublesidedmedia.com/revealing-the-work-behind-the-story/blog/\">DoubledSided541</a>, was hit by what he described as pepper ball rounds, shot by a Federal Protective Service officer, as Croxton covered a protest in Portland in the early hours of April 11, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"tn7n6\">Croxton was covering a “few dozen protesters” gathered near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, he wrote in <a href=\"https://doublesidedmedia.com/2021/04/17/melting-ice/\">a piece for DoubleSided541</a> a few days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"0upwf\">Croxton told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he did not believe he was deliberately targeted by the rounds that he said struck him around midnight that night: “Agent just opened the door and shot out. I happened to be across the street right in his sight.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oxge8\">The journalist said he was wearing a “PRESS” jacket and badge at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"oijwo\">He added: “There’s no doubt that I was shot and injured. Still have the scar.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ex3r0\">Croxton was with independent researcher and scientist Juniper Simonis, who also reported to the Tracker that they were<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/researcher-documenting-portland-protests-hit-multiple-times-with-crowd-control-rounds/\"> hit by rounds</a>. Croxton works with Simonis on gathering research about law enforcement use of crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"tv8to\">Croxton posted video on Twitter showing <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1381152577207762950\">what appear to be FPS agents</a>, along with the sound of firing. “Been hit in the right knee with some sort of projectile. Medics have provided an ice pack,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"ko7gg\">In his story on Double Sided Media Croxton posted <a href=\"https://doublesidedmedia.com/2021/04/17/melting-ice/\">photographs of the rounds</a> that he says hit him as well as photos of what look like <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1381163470264037382\">injury to his knees</a> caused by crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ag6mt\">The protest near the ICE facility began around 9 p.m. when protesters gathered around the building, took down a fence and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1381127751260807170?s=20\">a fire started</a>, Croxton said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p3f1\">“Just over a half an hour later, what began as a separate small fire on the side of the [ICE] entryway, turned into the entire side of it being engulfed,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3xclc\">According to <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/fires-set-at-portland-ice-building-no-arrests-made-police-say\">reports from the night</a>, the side of the ICE building was on fire and <a href=\"https://doublesidedmedia.com/2021/04/17/melting-ice/\">Portland Fire and Rescue officers</a> were sent to the scene to put out the blaze.</p><p data-block-key=\"mxktq\">“Agents tried to exit. Unsuccessful, they went across their driveway and out the side gate, running towards protesters and shooting both PepperBalls and FN 303 rounds,” wrote Croxton. FN 303 rounds are a “less lethal” form of crowd-control munition.</p><p data-block-key=\"yfbh4\">The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Protective Service, has not responded to a request by Tracker for comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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{
"title": "Researcher documenting Portland protests hit multiple times with crowd-control rounds",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/researcher-documenting-portland-protests-hit-multiple-times-with-crowd-control-rounds/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-27T13:18:55.580364Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T19:47:40.395240Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T19:47:40.271168Z",
"date": "2021-04-11",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxr7w\">Independent researcher and scientist Juniper Simonis said they were hit in the head by a crowd-control munition fired by federal officers while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of April 11, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"4md3g\">Simonis said they have been publishing information for several months about law enforcement’s use of chemical irritants at protests on Twitter, for a research and activist group called the <a href=\"https://www.chemicalweaponsresearch.com/\">Chemical Weapons Research Consortium</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.weouthere.net/2021/03/pay-no-attention-to-the-gross-negligence-behind-the-smoke/\">with other outlets</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"x6cbo\">According to local ABC-affiliate <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/fires-set-at-portland-ice-building-no-arrests-made-police-say\">KATU2</a>, demonstrators gathered outside the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on the preceding Saturday night. Portland police officers arrived around 11:30 p.m. to help Federal Protective Services officers extinguish several burning wooden pallets outside the building that protesters had set on fire. Over the past several months, the ICE building has been the target of numerous protests in support of Black Lives Matter and against police violence and the administration’s immigration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"oirfd\">Simonis said they were with a group of journalists in front of the ICE building where plywood sheets covering an entrance had been burned. They said federal officers were firing at the groups through a gap in the plywood sheets.</p><p data-block-key=\"mxjpy\">"They [federal officers] were using cellphones to peek around the corner so they could see where we were," Simonis told the Tracker. "They were targeting us even though it seemed random."</p><p data-block-key=\"mtnna\">Simonis said the officers fired several times, hitting Simonis in their lower left rib, lower back and face mask, with the last pepper ball ricocheting up and<a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1381345047908470786?s=20\"> leaving a welt</a> on their forehead.</p><p data-block-key=\"yy7i3\">"I had a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1381194874909720578?s=20\">bump</a> there that was still tender a month later," Simonis added. Simonis said they were visibly displaying a press badge, a card they made that had their photograph with the publications they write for listed and the word “PRESS” in large letters. Simonis also carried a DSLR camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wn12\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck in chest with flash-bang grenade during Brooklyn Center protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-in-chest-with-flash-bang-grenade-during-brooklyn-center-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-12T15:30:20.817510Z",
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"longitude": -93.33273,
"latitude": 45.07608,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xleg5\">Freelance journalist Tim Speier was struck in the chest with a flash-bang grenade that detonated while he covered protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 11, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"vy3p9\">Protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/brooklyn-center-minnesota-police-shooting.html\">outside the police department</a> began after the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright earlier that day, which occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of George Floyd. The events rekindled a nationwide wave of racial justice protests that began almost a year earlier after Floyd’s death.</p><p data-block-key=\"ipxhu\">Speier is a former marine who is now a student at St. Cloud State University and has written for the student publication the University Chronicle. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived to cover the protests alongside freelance journalist J.D. Duggan at approximately 9:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"iu1he\">“About 30 minutes later, I was trying to get some footage of a smoke grenade going off and there were protesters throwing stuff over me and another reporter who was standing right next to me,” Speier said. “In the footage it looks like an officer lobbed a grenade and when it came down it basically popped on my chest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sa5oj\">In footage Speier <a href=\"https://twitter.com/timmy2thyme/status/1381675958126714886\">shared</a> from Mercado Media, he can be seen standing at the intersection of 67th and North Humboldt Avenues at the north side of the police department, next to Unicorn Riot reporter Niko Georgiades, while a line of law enforcement officers stand in the background.</p><p data-block-key=\"wgm4g\">Approximately 30 seconds into the clip, a projectile which Speier identified as a flash-bang grenade can be seen striking him directly in the chest and detonating.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last night, while covering the protest with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JDugganMN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JDugganMN</a> at the Brooklyn Center Police Dept., I had a flashbang grenade detonate on my chest. I didn't think it was that bad till I saw the footage from Mercado Media.<br>I'm ok, btw. <a href=\"https://t.co/6SIiVvVKO0\">pic.twitter.com/6SIiVvVKO0</a></p>— Tim Speier (@timmy2thyme) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/timmy2thyme/status/1381675958126714886?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\"><p data-block-key=\"ekoal\">Immediately following the impact, the journalist filming the incident approaches Speier and Georgiades to ask whether they were alright, and both appeared to indicate that they were.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ceyr\">“I didn’t think it was that bad till I saw the footage from Mercado Media,” Speier wrote. “I’m OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nxl3g\">Speier told the Tracker that his shoulder was a bit sore following the incident, but he was protected from the worst of the impact by the ballistic vest he was wearing. In the footage, Speier can be seen wearing a protective vest labeled “PRESS” and press credentials around his neck, in addition to a helmet and respirator mask.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzp6v\">Speier said he wasn’t sure whether the officer had targeted him and Georgiades, but noted that no protesters were standing near them when the grenade was thrown.</p><p data-block-key=\"qhove\">The Brooklyn Center Police Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"5y675\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police-brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cmg4u\">Freelance journalist Tim Speier said he was filming a smoke grenade on April 11, 2021, in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, moments before he was hit in the chest with a flash-bang grenade.</p>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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{
"title": "Videographer assaulted, his phone thrown over a fence while covering Detroit protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-assaulted-his-phone-thrown-over-a-fence-while-covering-detroit-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-22T13:25:33.690831Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:39:47.193651Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:39:47.047417Z",
"date": "2021-04-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e3vpr\">Freelance videographer Brendan Gutenschwager says he was assaulted by people who claimed to be “acting as security” for an <a href=\"https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2021/04/10/detroit-residents-activists-protest-use-police-evictions/7146719002/\">anti-evictions protest</a> in Detroit, Michigan, on April 10, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"q2vt0\">According to <a href=\"https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2021/04/10/detroit-residents-activists-protest-use-police-evictions/7146719002/\">The Detroit News</a>, protesters, organized by local activist groups Detroit Will Breathe and Detroit Eviction Defense, gathered beside the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters on Third Street and proceeded through downtown.</p><p data-block-key=\"ii381\">Gutenschwager, whose videos of protests have been used by Fox News, CNN and <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/roving-videographers-covered-2020-amid-pandemic-summer-unrest/story?id=74881662\">ABC News</a>, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that just after 2 p.m. he was filming the march with his phone and posting coverage to his own <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1380960195065614343\">Twitter feed</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"s927c\">He said he was not wearing a “PRESS” jacket or identification but he identified himself verbally to the protest group as press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ba57\">A team of people monitoring the perimeter of the march identified themselves as security, he said. “Within a few seconds of seeing and identifying me, one of these individuals came up to grab my [phone] camera and force me away from the group,” said Gutenschwager.</p><p data-block-key=\"moz7t\">Gutenschwager said he told the monitors that he was there solely as a journalist documenting things peacefully, “but they took significant issue with me having covered the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th earlier this year.”</p><p data-block-key=\"px2qz\">According to Gutenschwager they accused him of being part of the crowd that attacked the Capitol, “and in assuming I was, said that I was a threat and tried to force me to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"86oyx\">Gutenschwager denied he was a participant in the attack and said he was in Washington D.C. as <a href=\"https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/01/15/it-escalated-so-quickly-videographer-describes-capitol-chaos/\">a journalist that day</a>. One of his videos, of a right-wing Proud Boy member bashing in a window of the Capitol with a stolen police shield, went viral.</p><p data-block-key=\"ade1q\">“It appeared the anger at the Detroit event was targeted towards me for having been in DC to cover the event,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jpx4\">After the group tried to force him away, “I stayed behind the march from that point forward, but several members of the group became fixated on my presence,” Gutenschwager said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pjdq9\">“Some attempted to keep the peace, telling the other protesters ‘Please don't engage with him. Just let him go.’ Others disagreed,” said Gutenschwager, whose video showed people shouting abuse at him, putting a hand over his phone camera and telling him “you are not welcome here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kimxk\">“Someone rammed me into the barricade,” he said. “I was then choked by a man who put both his hands around my neck as my [phone] camera was stolen and thrown over the fence.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ayab\">Gutenschwager said his lip was injured and he had scrapes on the right side of his body from the barricade. “I was able to retrieve the camera that had been thrown, at which point I resumed recording as protesters taunted me from the other side of the fence about being bloodied up,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rfzc\">The phone was not badly damaged so he did not report the incident to the police, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jr3g\">Event organizers Detroit Will Breathe and Detroit Eviction Defense did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"tags": [
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brendan Gutenschwager (Freelance)"
],
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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",
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"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",
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"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>",
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"name_of_business": "Microsoft",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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"categories": [
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"James O'Keefe (Project Veritas)"
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},
{
"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": "",
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"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>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Don Ford (KPIX-TV)"
],
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},
{
"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",
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"city": "Multiple",
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"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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{
"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",
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"city": "San Jose",
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"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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"name": "California",
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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{
"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",
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"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,
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"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>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
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"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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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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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"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Vern Evans (Freelance)"
],
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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>",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
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"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",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"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>",
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"(2021-04-07 13:17:00+00:00) Charges dropped against student journalist arrested while covering Echo Park Lake protests"
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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",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"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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"name": "California",
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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",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"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>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"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": [],
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"tags": [
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],
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},
{
"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",
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"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>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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],
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"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"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>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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{
"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",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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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",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:12.408488Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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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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"name": "California",
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"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:34:00+00:00) Charges dropped against independent journalist arrested while reporting at Echo Park Lake demonstration"
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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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"longitude": -118.24368,
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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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"encampment",
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"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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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",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:47:24.007649Z",
"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=\"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>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:28:00+00:00) Charges dropped against Kollection EIC arrested while covering Echo Park protest"
],
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
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],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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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",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
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"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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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",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"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": "",
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"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",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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},
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],
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],
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],
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}
]
