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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with rubber bullet, his camera damaged during L.A. protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-rubber-bullet-his-camera-damaged-during-l-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-26T19:59:18.264733Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:43.340514Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:43.251300Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z9eqv\">Photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, was struck with a rubber bullet and had his camera damaged while documenting protests in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mu4p3\">The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"o2ncn\">In a post initially to Facebook and later shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu wrote that officers fired a rubber bullet that would have struck him in the upper body had it not been for his camera, which took the brunt of the hit. The lens hood of his Leica Q camera was damaged, as seen in photos posted to his <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ringochiu/posts/10159068500404063\">social media</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ringochiu/status/1274644151384985600\">accounts</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My Leica Q was hit by a rubber bullet fired by LAPD in a protest last month. Not working anymore 😭😭😭 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicaq?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicaq</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leica?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leica</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicala?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicala</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicaphotojournalism?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicaphotojournalism</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/leicalove?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#leicalove</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatters?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatters</a><br><br>📸 <a href=\"https://t.co/5G5YvhfQad\">https://t.co/5G5YvhfQad</a> via <a href=\"https://t.co/tFiRvDN0df\">https://t.co/tFiRvDN0df</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/0TtnqwOSXm\">pic.twitter.com/0TtnqwOSXm</a></p>— Ringo Chiu (@ringochiu) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ringochiu/status/1274644151384985600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 21, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4k70u\">Chiu told the Tracker that he was also struck on his inner left thigh with a second rubber bullet fired by law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"eaw1o\">CBSLA <a href=\"https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/05/30/hundreds-gather-in-fairfax-district-as-part-of-latest-protest-over-deadly-arrest-of-george-floyd/\">reported</a> that both Los Angeles Police Department officers and L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies were at the scene in tactical gear. Neither agency responded to requests for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"l4hir\">Chiu was also assaulted by individuals while documenting the protest, which the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-he-was-kicked-individuals-during-l-protest/\">Tracker has documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"o8s30\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country in 2020. Find these incidents <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ringo Chiu (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Video journalist hit in head with projectile during DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-hit-head-projectile-during-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-04T20:37:59.843180Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:39.828885Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:39.742422Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zhgqy\">Ford Fischer, co-founder and editor-in-chief of News2Share, was struck with crowd-control munitions twice while on assignment for digital wire service <a href=\"https://www.zenger.news/\">Zenger</a> covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"gy977\">The Washington protests were part of a surge of demonstrations across the country, sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"02gzk\">Fisher, whose video news service focuses on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/N2Sreports\">"the latest on politics and activism,</a>” told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was watching a “stand-off” between riot officers and protesters in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. He said some demonstrators threw objects at police and ignited fireworks, and officers pushed back and shot crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"83ovh\">“At one point during that chaos I did get a sharp sting into my gut, and I was able to feel that it was a pepper ball because it releases a pepper-spray equivalent around it,” Fischer said. “But that was far enough from my face that it didn’t have the sort of blinding effect that being maced or taking a pepper ball closer to the face would have, so I essentially ignored it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v1gcn\">At around 11:45 p.m., Fischer said that fireworks set off by a protester landed somewhere between where he was standing and the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dl4c\">“I made a remark into my stream, jokingly, to the effect of, ‘Sorry, a firework blew up next to my head,’ and I was saying that because it was probably extremely loud to people watching,” Fischer said. That clip can be viewed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Zenger/status/1266977661462732806\">here</a>. The scene is then relatively quiet, until “about 20 seconds later, there was a pepper round that was shot and that hit my right shoulder,” Fischer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"eddir\">Fischer said that the round exploded close enough to his face that he felt the chemical irritant powder, which he said left him blinded for several minutes. He posted an image of the abrasion on his shoulder <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10221575675083394&set=pb.1298269668.-2207520000..&type=3&theater\">on Facebook</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"lyw8q\">Throughout the night, Fischer said, he heard a “rat-tat-tat-tat-tat” of officers firing off multiple rounds of pepper balls. When he was struck the second time, he said that he could hear only one shot fired. Because of that, he believes he was targeted: “I don’t think anybody could have focused in on me and seen anything other than a journalist.” Fischer said he was wearing his Congressional and White House press passes around his neck and carrying a “studio-sized” video camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"6zuyc\">“There was somebody who very quickly came to my aid and poured water in my eyes,” Fischer said. “And I was still kind of struggling as I walked north-bound away from it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hgpy1\">“Because I was still in residual pain and shaken up from that, I ended up leaving that protest pretty early,” Fischer said. “Once there was a safe way to exit, I did so.”</p><p data-block-key=\"078b6\">In Fischer’s footage from that night, some law enforcement officers appear to be carrying shields labeled with “military police” and “U.S. Park Police,” but it was not immediately clear to which agency the officers shooting belonged. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ssqi\">The following night, Fischer was struck in the forehead with a rubber bullet and detained by police. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-struck-crowd-control-munition-briefly-detained-amid-dc-protests/\">documented those incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ford Fischer (Zenger)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved, car shot at by rubber bullets while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-car-shot-rubber-bullets-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-24T21:57:05.699319Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:24.547986Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:23:24.465102Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x9anz\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed by a law enforcement officer and her car window was shot out by rubber bullets fired by police while she was covering a protest in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0m9pm\">The protest in Los Angeles began as demonstrations erupted across the country, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital. Protests against police brutality and for racial justice have continued across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"rvigh\">Berg was on assignment for Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive media company, and was on her way to cover a protest on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. She told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that when she and a photographer parked the car, she got out and was confronted by a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She said she showed her press credentials and the officer left.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kf9u\">Minutes later, another member of the sheriff’s department confronted her, she said. Again, she showed her press credentials, but she said the law enforcement officer did not back off. According to Berg, he pushed her, backing her toward the street where a line of law enforcement vehicles were driving by. She said she feared she would be run over.</p><p data-block-key=\"00wv1\">As she was covering the protest, she said that law enforcement began deploying tear gas. She said that she was in close proximity to a canister fired by police which landed near her and another journalist, neither of whom were standing near protesters. She was disoriented and having trouble breathing, and protesters helped her to leave the area and recover from the gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"l3kwd\">Around 6:30 p.m., she began to leave the area in her car, Berg said. Body camera footage she later acquired from the Los Angeles Police Department showed officers had formed a line across a broad street and started firing crowd control munitions, like rubber bullets.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgj92\">Cars were stuck in traffic and could not leave the area. Berg said that she put her head out of the window and asked the police where they were supposed to go.</p><p data-block-key=\"npyx8\">She said that an officer looked at her, then fired shots at her vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"o9cx4\">The rubber bullets shattered the glass of her rear window, leaving large holes, and left dents in the body of her car, photos show.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The cops just shot out by back window. And it was completely unnecessary. This after tear gas, being ribbed by a bully stick and other atrocities. And I had my press credentials visible. Coverage of today to follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StatusCoup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@StatusCoup</a>. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/laprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#laprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/pSdLtSIAXq\">pic.twitter.com/pSdLtSIAXq</a></p>— Notorious Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1266922413591105536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cevqd\">A spokesperson for the LAPD said the department was not aware of the incident and that the department does not deploy tear gas. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"903cx\">Berg said that she has communicated with the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles about joining a class action lawsuit about police conduct during the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"i4gee\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Berg_assault_0530_CA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xiuev\">While covering a May 30, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg says law enforcement pushed her and later shattered the window of her car with rubber bullets.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Tina-Desiree Berg (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Russian journalist targeted with pepper spray while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/russian-journalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:45:45.616728Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-15T16:42:30.773999Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-15T16:42:30.615735Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0qzpi\">Mikhail Turgiev, a correspondent with the Russian news agency RIA, was targeted with pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3bqsy\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"mps4g\">Turgiev told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that police pepper-sprayed at about 11 p.m. after he had taken refuge in a Vice News crew’s vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"jphhf\">Turgiev said he told the officer he was a member of the press and showed his State Department-issued press credentials, and then an officer pepper-sprayed him, according to a video from the Russian government-funded channel <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtDsQjTweT0\">Sputnik</a>. The journalist was able to turn his head and the spray only got into his right eye, he said in that video.</p><p data-block-key=\"fu2ms\">“There’s no explanation of why they used this kind of force,” Turgiev told Sputnik.</p><p data-block-key=\"munen\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpwwu\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "WLKY correspondent targeted with flash-bang grenades while covering protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wlky-correspondent-targeted-with-flash-bang-grenades-while-covering-protests-in-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T19:56:14.082226Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:22:43.658495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:22:43.567455Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymggo\">Stephon Dingle, a correspondent for local broadcast station WLKY, and his news crew were targeted with flash-bang grenades thrown by individuals while covering protests in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"jr8j9\">Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"yb2l3\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606\">post to Twitter</a> at 10:43 p.m., Dingle said that individuals had thrown flash-bang grenades, a nonlethal device typically used by police, at him and his crew. Dingle did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"pnavn\">“And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed,” Dingle wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/chaos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chaos</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WLKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WLKY</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/8xw32Xb5j4\">pic.twitter.com/8xw32Xb5j4</a></p>— Stephon Dingle WLKY (@Stephon_Dingle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k9144\">In the Twitter video, two members of the WLKY news crew talk about being hit with the projectiles — and one shows a mark on his body — but it did not identify the men. The Tracker has documented their assaults as Anonymous WLKY 1 and Anonymous WLKY 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfuop\">At least one other WLKY news crew was also attacked and two WLKY news vehicles were vandalized that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented all May 29 WLKY incidents <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-29&date_upper=2020-05-29&targeted_institutions=265\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zx24\">The Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Kentucky",
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"protest"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist targeted with tear gas while covering Dallas protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-targeted-with-tear-gas-while-covering-dallas-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T15:44:58.772029Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:44.861364Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:44.776858Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dm76l\">A news crew with CBS Channel 11 covering protests in Dallas was forced to scatter when a police officer tossed an activated canister of tear gas at two journalists as they were about to go live on air on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkj67\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"v20b5\">Photojournalist Bret Kelly and reporter Steve Pickett were stationed in downtown Dallas covering protests. At around 10:15 p.m., they were getting ready to begin their live shot. Typically, the station would have alerted them both, but they had only one working earpiece so Pickett told Kelly aloud, Kelly told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1ib2\">Kelly believes that a Dallas police officer standing 10 feet away overheard him. "As soon as [Pickett] said that, an officer took a canister and tossed it right at our feet, underhand, like he was playing cornhole," Kelly said. The canister landed on the ground between them and started spewing tear gas. "By then we were live," Kelly said. "We got gassed pretty hard and took flight a little bit."</p><p data-block-key=\"53lmq\">Pickett can be seen on CBS 11 <a href=\"https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/05/29/cbs-11-reporter-steve-pickett-overcome-tear-gas-covering-george-floyd-protest/\">video</a> struggling to breathe and find a way out of the area where the gas was deployed. "I’m trying to get out of the tear gas, this is killing us," Pickett says to the studio journalist as his eyes visibly water and he stumbles his way out of the cloud. He tells his colleague that earlier that night he was also threatened with arrest. The Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-channel-11-prepared-go-live-dallas-officer-tosses-tear-gas-canister-toward-news-crew/\">documented his assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9eww\">Kelly <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BKSpxshooter11/status/1266901579728379908\">wrote</a> about the experience on Twitter the next day, saying “ ... I was nowhere near any protesters. Definitely a conscious decision by that officer.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Happened to me last night, when I was nowhere near any protesters. Definitely a conscious decision by that officer.</p>— Bret Kelly (@BKSpxshooter11) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BKSpxshooter11/status/1266901579728379908?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vsvor\">An emailed request for comment sent to the Dallas Police Department about the incident was not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"rwd85\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bret Kelly (KTVT)"
],
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{
"title": "WLKY journalist targeted with projectile while covering protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wlky-journalist-targeted-with-projectile-while-covering-protests-in-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T20:02:47.796814Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:23:04.054141Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:23:03.908116Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f7zeg\">A WLKY news crew was targeted with flash-bang grenades thrown by individuals while covering protests in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqcje\">Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"u41r6\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606\">post to Twitter</a> at 10:43 p.m., WLKY correspondent Stephon Dingle said that individuals had thrown flash-bang grenades, a nonlethal device typically used by police, at him and his crew. Dingle did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"jef6s\">“And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed,” Dingle wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And just like that a group of protestors threw their own flag bangs and hit our crew who was standing afar as people quickly dispersed. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/chaos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chaos</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WLKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WLKY</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/8xw32Xb5j4\">pic.twitter.com/8xw32Xb5j4</a></p>— Stephon Dingle WLKY (@Stephon_Dingle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Stephon_Dingle/status/1266560921238937606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7n6gh\">In the Twitter video, two members of the WLKY news crew talk about being struck in the side with the projectiles — and one shows a mark on his body — but it did not identify the men. The Tracker has documented their assaults as Anonymous WLKY 1 and Anonymous WLKY 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"so1kt\">At least one other WLKY news crew was also attacked and two WLKY news vehicles were vandalized that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented all May 29 WLKY incidents <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-29&date_upper=2020-05-29&targeted_institutions=265\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"py3ox\">The Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"name": "Kentucky",
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],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified journalist 3 (WLKY)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist for Norwegian outlet targeted with projectiles during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-for-norwegian-outlet-targeted-with-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T19:46:27.005124Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:23:51.771735Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:23:51.678525Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4793w\">Thomas Nilsson, a photojournalist for Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang, was targeted by law enforcement while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"k8ucz\">Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"sl7qt\">Nina Svanberg, a reporter for the Swedish outlet Expressen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that she and Nilsson had walked with protesters up from the Third Precinct to the Fifth Precinct on the 29th. National Guard troops and police arrived to the area to disperse the crowd and enforce the 8 p.m. curfew in place.</p><p data-block-key=\"wllti\">At about 11:30 p.m., Minneapolis Police Department officers began indiscriminately firing projectiles and tear gas to disperse the crowd, Svanberg said. One hit her on the hip. She added that she crawled behind a car to avoid being hit again, but was caught in the tear gas. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-european-outlets-hit-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/\">Svanberg’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"mht75\">Nilsson, who could not be reached for comment, wrote in an account for Verdens Gang that he was affected by the chemical irritant as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmoc9\">The journalists eventually met up in an alley where an Australian news team was sheltering with its security team.</p><p data-block-key=\"89kes\">It was there that Nilsson discovered that he had a red laser sight on his stomach, he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"hpjks\">According to his account, he moved farther into the alley and waited for about 10 minutes. When he looked out to check whether it was safe, he found himself once again targeted with a laser sight, he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"0r34p\">Svanberg told CPJ that both she and Nilsson were wearing press passes. Nilsson noted in his account that he also was carrying two cameras and was wearing a helmet and a gas mask. In the account he said that he is certain the police knew they were journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"kdy17\">The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to multiple phone and emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"sq1wo\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Police aggressively seized journalist’s press pass amid Manhattan protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-aggressively-seized-journalists-press-pass-amid-manhattan-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2022-08-23T20:32:49.616083Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-23T20:32:49.616083Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-23T20:32:49.553706Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w65vf\">Lachlan Cartwright, a then-reporter for The Daily Beast, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering protests in New York City on May 29, 2020, when a police officer aggressively seized his press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"94rg9\">Cartwright told the Tracker in a July 2022 interview about the incident that he was asked by an editor to provide back-up to a colleague who was already documenting the Manhattan protest. The demonstration was one of many sparked nationally by the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The Tracker documented hundreds of incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-26&date_upper=2021-06-02&tags=Black+Lives+Matter+protest&categories=\">Find those incidents here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gls7\">“When I entered where the protests were in Union Square, there were cars on fire, it was just mayhem,” Cartwright said. “And the cops were very aggressively advancing on the protesters, but also kind of being super aggressive to journalists, including myself.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dhqs9\">The reporter said he approached one of the New York Police Department officers and had a back-and-forth with him about the fact that he was a journalist trying to document the protest and that the police’s actions were making it difficult for him to do his job.</p><p data-block-key=\"4usku\">After the exchange, Cartwright had resumed covering the protest when he suddenly felt a hard tug at his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"1trra\">“A cop had actually ripped my badge from around my neck,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7u1ge\">Cartwright told the Tracker that in his haste when leaving his apartment he had mistakenly grabbed a press pass he had been issued while working for a different outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"41gv4\">The officer refused to return the credential. Cartwright told the Tracker that, to the best of his knowledge, it is still in the police department's possession.</p><p data-block-key=\"51v1j\">NYPD did not respond to emails requesting comment.</p></div>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "press identification"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lachlan Cartwright (The Daily Beast)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Officer in Minneapolis points weapon at public radio reporters",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-in-minneapolis-points-weapon-at-public-radio-reporters/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-14T14:04:24.254067Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:25:47.824702Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:25:47.715914Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ak0cd\">An officer brandished a weapon at two public radio reporters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, even after they identified themselves as press, just after midnight on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"91ajh\">American Public Media reporters Samara Freemark and Madeleine Baran had spent much of the evening covering the protests outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct when they decided to head back to their car and go home, Freemark told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"6wx5v\">As they attempted to cross Nicollet Avenue, a formation of law enforcement officers appeared, blocking them from crossing the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"25g96\">Freemark described the situation as initially being calm. “But all of the sudden, there was a switch that flipped,” she said. An officer suddenly appeared next to Freemark and Baran and shoved a weapon inches from their faces while shouting, “Get the fuck out of here,” Freemark recounted. She said she was not sure exactly what type of weapon it was, but that it did not resemble a pistol and seemed designed to fire crowd control ammunition.</p><p data-block-key=\"fxdvv\">“We were yelling, ‘We’re press, we’re press,’ but he kept shoving it in our face, yelling at us to ‘get the fuck out of here,’” she said. “It was dark, so shocking, and so unexpected.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lbn0e\">The officer did nothing to acknowledge that they were press, Freemark said, and, eventually, they ran away. “Every time we stopped, there were cops yelling at us,” she said. Freemark and Baran were unable to reach their car and had to walk home.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i1y6\">Minneapolis was under an 8 p.m. curfew that evening, but journalists were expressly exempt from it.</p><p data-block-key=\"nljai\">Freemark said that the police line they encountered included officers from multiple agencies, and she was unsure which agency the officer who pointed the weapon was from.</p><p data-block-key=\"iph6d\">An email sent to the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this incident was not returned as of press time. Bruce Gordon, director of communications for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, replied that before he could comment he would need to know if the incident in question involved a State Patrol trooper.</p><p data-block-key=\"a66s8\">After the encounter, Baran tweeted about the experience:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Minneapolis police officer pointed a weapon at me at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sfreemark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sfreemark</a>’s heads, while we were standing on Nicollet and 32nd covering the protests. I yelled that I’m a journalist. He did not lower his weapon, so we ran. Calling it a night.</p>— Madeleine Baran (@madeleinebaran) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/madeleinebaran/status/1266610933071138816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"49qap\">An interview request sent to Baran was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"togmm\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"jk2z7\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with crowd-control munition during Denver protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-crowd-control-munition-during-denver-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T17:52:08.221028Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:20:28.743699Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:20:28.650488Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3siuk\">Taylor Schuss, a photojournalist with Denver NBC affiliate 9News KUSA, was struck with a pepper ball fired by Denver police while covering protests in the Colorado city on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"o0n7n\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwz65\">That evening, police fired a pepper ball that hit Schuss on the ankle, according to Tim Ryan, director of content at 9News KUSA, who summarized the incident in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"98qw1\">Ryan wrote that Schuss and the reporter he was with, Steve Staeger, “don’t believe they were targeted as journalists but rather happened to be in a group of protesters who were targeted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"woa3c\">Staeger later tweeted about the incident, also adding that an individual had sprayed Schuss’ camera lens with some substance while they were covering the demonstrations.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I watched <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Taylor_TVnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Taylor_TVnews</a> take a pepper ball shot into his ankle by police and have a protestor spray his camera lens with something, all while we both endured about 5 or 6 rounds of tear gas tonight during coverage tonight. Yet through it all he stayed focused.</p>— Steve Staeger (@SteveStaeger) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SteveStaeger/status/1266625470541463552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eut79\">Schuss did not reply to an interview request sent via Twitter message.</p><p data-block-key=\"yko6n\">Requests for comment on this incident sent to the Denver Police Department were not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"nly5i\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Taylor Schuss (KUSA)"
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},
{
"title": "Unknown individual pepper sprays CBS4 Denver news crew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unknown-individual-pepper-sprays-cbs4-denver-news-crew/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-27T18:06:03.480220Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:20:56.084669Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:20:55.987765Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oljpi\">An unknown man sprayed pepper spray at CBS4 Denver news crew that was covering the protests on the streets of Colorado’s capital on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"teobe\">This incident occurred during the second night of protests in Denver over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis Police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes on May 25. Related protests have spread to cities across the nation.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqp5f\">Photojournalist Rob McClure and reporter Jamie Leary were both “OK” after the attack, according to a tweet from CBS producer Dago Cordova, who <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dago_deportes/status/1266586649024176128\">shared</a> video footage of the incident.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">During our special <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBSNDenver?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CBSNDenver</a> coverage of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForGeorge?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#JusticeForGeorge</a> protests, a man went up to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamieALeary?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JamieALeary</a> & <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RobCBS4?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RobCBS4</a> and sprayed them with pepper spray. He did this after he did it to fellow local journalists. Jamie & Rob are okay <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBSDenver?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CBSDenver</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/k76tZsoHXq\">pic.twitter.com/k76tZsoHXq</a></p>— Dago Cordova (@dago_deportes) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dago_deportes/status/1266586649024176128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k5w75\">The crew was set up directly across from the Colorado Capitol along Lincoln Avenue. In the video, an unidentified young man in a colorful striped shirt, black baseball cap and black balaclava holding a canister of pepper spray walks by the journalists, who are filming live, then doubles back and sprays the crew with pepper spray. “Hey hey hey, Are you kidding me?” Leary says as the attack is underway.</p><p data-block-key=\"hnx9t\">Leary told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that both she and McClure were able to avoid a direct hit from the pepper spray because they had just watched the man pepper spray another camera crew nearby. They were watching him carefully, she explained. “He walked by us and then did an about-face,” Leary said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1viqj\">The Tracker <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/protestor-pepper-sprays-cbs4-denver-another-news-crew/\">documented Leary’s assault here</a>. McClure’s camera was lightly sprayed, but was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"jeayq\">The identity of the other camera crew attacked was not immediately available.</p><p data-block-key=\"yieki\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name": "Colorado",
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},
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"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "AP reporter struck with projectile during Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-reporter-struck-with-projectile-during-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T21:04:02.516110Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:25:23.652890Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:25:23.570586Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9nkoy\">Associated Press photojournalist John Minchillo posted on social media that he was struck with a crowd-control munition while covering the fourth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"simmu\">Protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"qxkqh\">Two days after the incident, Minchillo <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnminchillo/status/1267116569223725059\">posted on Twitter</a> that he was also struck by a less-lethal projectile while reporting that day, and said that police had fired indiscriminately.</p><p data-block-key=\"tzmta\">“No distinctions were made... when I and my colleagues were hit by officers,” Minchillo wrote. “This is a protocol that I’ve not seen elsewhere.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No distinctions were made two nights back when I and my colleagues were hit by officers. Last night was full force in a wide spread. This is a protocol than I’ve not seen elsewhere. Lone officers do sometimes act so, not entire units. No discretion, just total area denial.</p>— john minchillo (@johnminchillo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnminchillo/status/1267116569223725059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"id416\">Minchillo could not be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"qz9u6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "WCCO journalist hit by projectile while covering protests in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wcco-journalist-hit-projectile-while-covering-protests-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-15T21:07:11.102856Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:32:25.930356Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:32:25.851759Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vjav4\">Jeff Wagner, a reporter and anchor for WCCO, a CBS affiliate station based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was livestreaming protest coverage as he was hit by a police projectile on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"86zbh\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"3j0kx\">Wagner was covering the fourth night of protests in Minneapolis on May 29. The night before, protesters overran and set fire to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. But the focus on the 29th had shifted to the Fifth Precinct.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvqyx\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=545070406162328&ref=watch_permalink\">livestream</a> video filmed by Wagner, the Minnesota State Patrol can be heard over loudspeaker just before 11:30 p.m. ordering people to disperse immediately. About 10 minutes after Wagner filmed the loudspeaker warning, he was hit by a police projectile.</p><p data-block-key=\"z5cuu\">Wagner did not respond to requests for comment, and a message left on the WCCO general line was not answered.</p><p data-block-key=\"vzxk1\">In the livestream, Wagner reports that State Patrol troopers were advancing north on Nicollet Avenue, shooting projectiles at protesters who’d been throwing objects and launching fireworks at the police. He stands separate from the action in a mostly empty parking lot on the side of the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"fym5n\">A lone officer can be seen stepping into the parking lot and appears to hit one individual trying to retrieve a bike. Wagner asks if the person is all right, just as he, too, is hit. Wagner grunts as his phone tumbles to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"8cz05\">Wagner says in the livestream that he is all right despite the projectile feeling like the “the hardest punch to my forearm I’ve ever had.” But he says he recognized the risk of reporting close to the action.</p><p data-block-key=\"lplwf\">“I had my hand up. I got my news badge,” Wagner says as he flashes the badge on the video. “It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter in that moment. I looked like anybody else.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ja5me\">The livestream video does not clearly show the officer who shot the projectile at Wagner. Protesters, journalists and even law enforcement officials have had difficulty at times identifying specific officers during the protests. More than a <a href=\"https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ooc/news-releases/Pages/multi-agency-command-center-report-on-civil-unrest.aspx\">dozen</a> agencies joined the law enforcement effort in Minnesota in late May, often wearing similar-looking uniforms.</p><p data-block-key=\"yj07x\">The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Patrol, didn’t respond to the Tracker’s emailed list of questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6pgx\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-reporter-hit-projectile-tear-gassed-during-live-coverage-minneapolis-protest/\">Several</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-european-outlets-hit-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/\">other journalists</a> were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-hit-by-police-projectiles-in-minneapolis-fifth-precinct/\">hit</a> by police projectiles and tear gas fired by either State Patrol or Minneapolis Police that evening, as documented by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9vo0\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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},
{
"title": "TV station evacuated, windows smashed amid protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-station-evacuated-windows-smashed-amid-protests-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-25T21:32:55.366401Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:32:08.048500Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:32:07.950413Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qrijd\">The staff of television station WHAS 11 was forced to briefly evacuate the station’s offices in Louisville, Kentucky, after the building’s windows were smashed during a protest on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"myrqf\">The protest was held in response to the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot dead by police on March 13, as well as the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since late May.</p><p data-block-key=\"qh75a\">Shortly after 11 p.m. on May 29, a WHAS producer posted on Twitter that he and other staff members were back on the air after having to evacuate the downtown building for 25 minutes when unidentified people started smashing windows.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ggbq\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreakingNews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreakingNews</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHAS11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHAS11</a> crew forced to evacuate building for about 25 minutes after protesters starting smashing our windows. We're back on air now. We are SAFE and we are SECURE. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Louisville</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a></p>— Stephen A. Ostrosky (@producer_steve) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/producer_steve/status/1266566387373420545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gime6\">A news reporter from the station also described having to evacuate the building and said everyone returned safe and unharmed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHAS11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHAS11</a> crew was forced to evacuate the building after some protesters smashed our windows. Thankfully everyone is safe and all is well. Please stay safe <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Louisville</a></p>— Senait Gebregiorgis (@SenaitTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SenaitTV/status/1266570203292409856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jexob\">At around 11:30 p.m., a journalist from the nearby Courier-Jourier saw broken window panes and graffiti spray painted on the network’s building, the newspaper <a href=\"https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/metro-government/2020/05/28/breonna-taylor-shooting-what-know-louisville-protest/5280762002/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zmrx9\">Doug Proffitt, an anchor on WHAS 11, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=756299548476021\">reported</a> on air later that night that a group of protesters had come down Chestnut Street towards the station’s building and that “it was a frightening situation.” He also said WHAS staff had suffered effects from tear gas that entered the building, but didn’t elaborate.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjwz7\">The network didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"89ici\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
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"WHAS-TV"
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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{
"title": "Journalist says police fired pepper balls at him while he stood alone covering Denver protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-says-police-fired-pepper-balls-him-while-he-stood-alone-covering-denver-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-18T18:32:54.838836Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:31:39.909305Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:31:39.815308Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"shfdf\">Reporter and photographer Kevin Beaty says that police officers tried to pelt him with pepper balls while he was covering protests in Denver on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mjda\">The protests erupted in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"iqctr\">Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held in cities across the U.S. since late May.</p><p data-block-key=\"eiglm\">Another Black man, Elijah McClain, died in August 2019 after a fateful encounter with police in Aurora, Colorado, which is in the Denver metro area. McClain’s name has been invoked in signs and chants at protests sparked by Floyd’s death.</p><p data-block-key=\"iqeez\">Beaty told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was standing alone on the lawn of the Colorado State Capitol while covering the May 29 protests for Denverite when a truck carrying Denver Police Department officers wielding pepper ball launchers arrived and began firing off rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"hpyzr\">Beaty said he didn’t take direct hits, but he heard rounds make contact with his backpack.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bf2g\">“Even the smallest bit of powder getting into your respiratory system will make you sneeze or cough,” Beaty said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tev5\">Beaty said that in addition to using pepper balls, Denver police were also hitting protesters with tear gas throughout the day and that he had taken some himself.</p><p data-block-key=\"ytaaz\">He did not seek medical attention following the May 29 protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"m9xr1\">Later that night, Beaty <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KevinJBeaty/status/1266565780671348736?s=20\">tweeted</a> that Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told him earlier that day that police would not target bystanders to the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"rb6qm\">“Why, then, did I just get shot while standing alone on the Capitol grass taking photos?” he said in the tweet.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/DenverPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DenverPolice</a> the mayor told me this morning bystanders are not the intended target of this enforcement. Why, then, did I just get shot while standing alone on the Capitol grass taking photos?</p>— Kevin Beaty (@KevinJBeaty) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KevinJBeaty/status/1266565780671348736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2kcn\">The Denver Police Internal Affairs Bureau contacted Beaty after he tweeted about the incident, Beaty told the Tracker. He filed a report with the office, but said he has not been contacted since.</p><p data-block-key=\"baexf\">A spokesman for the Denver Police Department declined to comment on Beaty’s case.</p><p data-block-key=\"ykt90\">“An internal affairs investigation into this incident is underway and it would be inappropriate for the department to comment at this time,” spokesman Jay Casillas said in an email.</p><p data-block-key=\"hetmw\">Denver has seen numerous demonstrations since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Beaty said. But the protests that broke out in the days following Floyd’s death were “some of the wildest I’ve ever seen.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xx6io\">“It was pretty bananas for the first few days,” Beaty said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qpvek\">In the months since, Beaty said that he has seen protesters in Aurora carrying firearms. He also noted that there have been a number of shootings during area demonstrations. In July, a 23-year-old man allegedly opened fire at a Jeep that attempted to drive through a group protesting McClain’s death while marching on Interstate 225 in Aurora.</p><p data-block-key=\"s1w2n\">Two protesters were struck with bullets during the shooting, <a href=\"https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/07/28/samuel-young-aurora-mugshot-shooting-jeep-elijah-mcclain-protest/\">according to CBS4 Denver</a>. Samuel Young, the accused shooter, is charged with four counts of attempted murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"une2t\">“In the last month, things have gotten more worrisome from a safety perspective,” Beaty said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lo0s\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Kevin Beaty (Denverite)"
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{
"title": "May: While reporting from protests across the nation, journalists tear gassed, threatened and harassed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/while-reporting-protests-across-nation-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-13T20:07:48.595261Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-12-19T15:51:08.802402Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-12-19T15:51:08.516472Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ich7h\"><i>George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — in a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically-organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. in May.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"d8ytd\"><i>A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found</i> <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"><i>here</i></a><i>. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/frequently-asked-questions/\"><i>pressfreedomtracker.us</i></a><i>.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"bde04\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h3 data-block-key=\"cke9z\">May 29, 2020</h3><h4 data-block-key=\"y9hr9\">In Oakland, California</h4></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39L3A.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"551\" alt=\"REUTERS/Stephen Lam\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"a3anx\">In Oakland, California, on May 29, 2020, a demonstrator kicks a canister of tear gas.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — REUTERS/Stephen Lam\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"e7ogy\"><b>Mario Koran</b>, West Coast reporter for the Guardian, had been covering an escalating scene downtown that evening. Around 8:45 p.m., he noted on Twitter: “Crowd size and energy w some ebb and flow but to note that so far assembly almost entirely peaceful.” A little after 9, he reported, “That's changed. Flash grenades poppin off. Crowd throwing items at cops. Also fireworks.” Half an hour later, he noted: “Police have fired tear gas into crowd, sending people running,” and, “Many people clutching their eyes, nose running, one man bent over vomiting. Literally hard to breath.” At around 10:15, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MarioKoran/status/1266599318955257856\">tweeted</a>: “My face and lungs are burning. My nose is running. I'm going home. -30-” Koran continued to tweet and share images and videos of looting and destruction. In one of his final messages of the night, he noted: “I was struck by the kindness almost all protestors showed each other tonight, apologizing when they bumped into you, offering you water to rinse tear gas from your eyes. It was unexpectedly touching.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Many people clutching their eyes, nose running, one man bent over vomiting. Literally hard to breath</p>— Mario Koran (@MarioKoran) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MarioKoran/status/1266589018885517313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"clhqy\"><b>Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez</b>, a reporter/producer for KQED, a public radio and television outfit based in San Francisco, was also in downtown Oakland that evening. At around 11:30 p.m. he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FitzTheReporter/status/1266618674862911493\">tweeted</a>, “not my most dignified moment. but hey, thanks random demonstrator for the baking soda and water,” and shared a video in which the journalist can be heard coughing, spewing a lone profanity and at one point asking, “Does anyone have milk?”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">not my most dignified moment<br><br>but hey, thanks random demonstrator for the baking soda and water<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/oaklandprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#oaklandprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloydprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/eitXljHuYn\">pic.twitter.com/eitXljHuYn</a></p>— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitzTheReporter) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FitzTheReporter/status/1266618674862911493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"h47rk\"><b>Doug Sovern</b>, a political reporter for KCBS Radio, based in San Francisco, was also covering protests in downtown Oakland. In a <a href=\"https://kcbsradio.radio.com/media/audio-channel/oakland-protests-turn-violent-cops-disperse-tear-gas\">report that aired the following day</a>, Sovern said, “When protesters started setting off fireworks and throwing bottles at cops, police responded with tear gas and many in the crowd fled in panic. I got gassed, as did many other media.” He’d <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SovernNation/status/1266592079947239432\">relayed a similar account</a> at around 9:45 p.m. on May 29 on Twitter, saying, “Breaking: #Oakland police fire tear gas at #GeorgeFloyd protesters after series of small explosions. Crowd runs. I got gassed, as did many other media. Not fun. Burning eyes, hacking cough. Been at least 17 years since I managed not to avoid the gas at a protest,” and sharing a shaky video where loud noises, reported as flash-bangs, can be heard and a smoky haze looms in the distance. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sovernnation/status/1266629484960047104\">tweet</a> sent just after midnight, Sovern reported: “Not one person in the #GeorgeFloyd protest crowd tonight in #Oakland was hostile to me in any way. No one refused an interview or a photo, no one swore at me, and several came to my aid after I got tear gassed.” The next morning, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SovernNation/status/1266758297576599553\">added</a>: “It was a really rough night for a lot of the media working bravely to do their best to cover a chaotic situation. Some got hit with rubber bullets. Many of us got gassed. And some good people were plain ripped off.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Breaking: <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oakland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oakland</a> police fire tear gas at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> protesters after series of small explosions. Crowd runs. I got gassed, as did many other media. Not fun. Burning eyes, hacking cough. Been at least 17 years since I managed not to avoid the gas at a protest <a href=\"https://t.co/T1a0Aizkch\">pic.twitter.com/T1a0Aizkch</a></p>— SovernNation (@SovernNation) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SovernNation/status/1266592079947239432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"abe08\">In San Jose, California</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"kzuy3\"><b>Scott Budman</b>, a reporter for NBC Bay Area, was covering protests downtown that evening. A little after 8 p.m., he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/scottbudman/status/1266566233043791872\">tweeted</a>: “OK. Just got tear gassed for the first time in my career. Time to go.” Budman also spoke about the tear-gassing briefly in a June 6 podcast he co-hosts for the Silicon Valley Business Journal, <a href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2020/06/06/podcast-silicon-insider-54.html\">The Silicon Insider</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\">OK. Just got tear gassed for the first time in my career.<br><br>Time to go. <a href=\"https://t.co/0iLniP8YLf\">pic.twitter.com/0iLniP8YLf</a></p>— scott budman (@scottbudman) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/scottbudman/status/1266566233043791872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"iz9of\">In Louisville, Kentucky</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"mr1ky\"><b>Sara Sidery</b>, a reporter for Fox-affiliate WDRB News, was covering protests downtown that afternoon. Sidery tweeted that moments before she was going live, police deployed tear gas without warning. “I got separated and ran out of instinct. I couldn’t breathe or see,” Sidery wrote. She received aid from some protesters, who poured baking soda solution into her eyes.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shortly before going live, police threw tear gas w/o warning. I got separated and ran out of instinct. I couldn’t breathe or see. A group of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisvilleprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Louisvilleprotest</a> protesters stopped to help me and poured baking soda solution in my eyes so I could see again. Thank you. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WDRBNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WDRBNews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/PNDQwzQF6B\">pic.twitter.com/PNDQwzQF6B</a></p>— Sara Sidery (@SaraSideryWDRB) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SaraSideryWDRB/status/1266885032150536199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"g6tqz\">In Atlanta, Georgia</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"fosav\"><b>Julieta Martinelli</b>, a reporter and producer for LatinoUSA, was covering protests downton and in front of the CNN Center. According to a series of tweets Martinelli posted on Twitter, she was recording on the front line of the protest where a few dozen protestors were facing off with police in riot gear. “Cops came from 3 directions & closed around us in [the] intersection,” Martinellie wrote, adding that the officers tear gassed and maced the crowd. “I’ve never felt anything like that before,” Martinelli said in a video. “Imagine the worst panic attack you’ve ever had times ten. That’s the only way I can describe it.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi, just checking in. I was recording in the front line where just a few dozen protestors stood arms locked in front of police with riot gear. They were chanting but not violent. Cops came from 3 directions & closed around us in intersection. threw tear gas & maze. <a href=\"https://t.co/E1cSlQWIrN\">pic.twitter.com/E1cSlQWIrN</a></p>— Julieta Martinelli (@ItsJMartinelli) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ItsJMartinelli/status/1266571256922505217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9hsfk\"></p><hr/><h3 data-block-key=\"y65o6\">May 30, 2020</h3><h4 data-block-key=\"f1dq9\"><b>In Seattle, Washington</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"bwb8x\"><b>Nathalie Graham,</b> a staff writer at the Stranger, a biweekly alternative newspaper in Seattle, had been covering protests in the city late in the afternoon. A little after 4 p.m., she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gramsofgnats/status/1266868429211852801\">noted on Twitter</a>: “Plumes of tear gas on Pine near Westlake #SeattleProtest.” The ACLU announced on June 9 that it had filed an emergency lawsuit against the city on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and several individuals, arguing that “the use of chemical agents and projectiles for crowd control violate the First and Fourth Amendments.” Graham was among the plaintiffs. In her <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/graham-declaration\">declaration</a>, she relayed the following: “The scene when I arrived [at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle] was clouded by gas, with protesters scattering and sprinting away. The atmosphere was tense and frightening. I immediately felt the effects of the gas and began coughing. My eyes stung and watered. Although there did not appear to be any risk of violence from the crowd, law enforcement continued to fire flash bangs and tear gas, increasing the chaos. I took video footage of these protests and the violence that ensued. I was determined to continue reporting, so I began roving around the Westlake area, observing the scene. As I approached the corner of 6th and Stewart, I saw a group of protesters peacefully kneeling in the intersection as a speaker addressed them. I stood on the sidewalk nearby and listened to the speaker for a while, but then I heard an explosion from down the street. I turned and moved partway down the block to see what was happening, and then watched as a police line advanced down the street towards me, with other demonstrators fleeing in front of them. They deployed tear gas, which filled the street like plumes of smoke. It was not clear to me that the people fleeing the approaching police line and tear gas had done anything to provoke such an aggressive response. The protesters kneeling in the intersection, who were also impacted by the tear gas, had been completely peaceful. I did not see what happened next, but given the amount of gas in the air, I imagine that the kneeling protesters would have been forced to scatter. I wanted to continue to document the situation, but the gas reached me seconds later, and I had to leave. Its effects were so powerful, so painful, and so alarming that I was physically unable to remain in the intersection. As a result, I was unable to continue reporting on that incident. Shortly afterward, on E. Pine St, I saw a truck playing music, as protesters danced around it. It was an uplifting, joyful scene that contrasted with the warlike chaos of the panicked demonstrators and tear gas in other areas of the neighborhood. I paused to observe and record a video, when law enforcement threw a flash bang grenade into the crowd without warning. They deployed tear gas seconds later. The dancing protesters at first scattered, but then coalesced back into a group. Law enforcement pushed them back and continued to deploy tear gas and flash bangs. I was shocked and frightened by the consistently unprovoked, aggressive use of force by law enforcement officers on multiple different groups of peaceful protesters. I saw no evidence that any of these severe crowd-dispersal tactics were warranted, and there was never any warning before they were deployed. At this point, I decided to leave the area, because I feared for my safety. There was tear gas everywhere, flash bang grenades exploding in the street, and I was anxious that the police would further escalate their tactics. I decided that reporting on the situation was no longer worth the pain of enduring tear gas and the risk of suffering violence at the hands of law enforcement.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Plumes of tear gas on Pine near Westlake <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/SeattleProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SeattleProtest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/z2Pl7EtRF1\">pic.twitter.com/z2Pl7EtRF1</a></p>— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gramsofgnats/status/1266868429211852801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"jtqeg\"><b>Brandi Kruse</b>, who hosts a weekly politics show called the Divide on Q13Fox, was live-tweeting protests in the city throughout the afternoon. At around 4:15, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BrandiKruse/status/1266871105186193408\">tweeted</a>: “Rioter took A-15 out of @SeattlePD SUV and started firing it into vehicles. No one hurt that we know of.” Around 5:30, she reported: “As I explained on air, our security guard felt that the public was in danger. He took the AR 15 from the rioter and disabled it. We called 911 and waited to hand it over and continue our reporting. Protesters surrounded us, calling us police. I repeated over and over I was press. One protester told me to leave the area because I would not be safe there. That’s behind us, reporting continues on Q13FOX.” Fox News <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-security-guard-ar-15-rifle-rioter-stolen-smashed-police-cruiser\">reported on</a> the security guard’s actions and threats faced by the journalists.<br/>On June 18, the Seattle Police Department issued subpoenas to five area news outlets, requesting all video footage and photographs taken on May 30 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. within a four-block radius. The Tracker has documented that case, and its evolution, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/seattle-police-department-subpoenas-five-news-outlets-protest-photos-videos/\">here</a>.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As I explained on air, our security guard felt that the public was in danger. He took the AR 15 from the rioter and disabled it. We called 911 and waited to hand it over and continue our reporting. Protesters surrounded us, calling us police. (1/2) <a href=\"https://t.co/q9jypdxfco\">https://t.co/q9jypdxfco</a></p>— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BrandiKruse/status/1266889752466227200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"gip14\">In Beverly Hills, California</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"5s85c\"><b>Carlos Granda</b>, a reporter for ABC7 News, and his news crew were caught in tear gas as protests advanced down Rodeo Drive near the intersection with Santa Monica Boulevard. “We’re being hit by tear gas,” Granda can be heard saying during a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1266934049098121216\">live broadcast</a>. “I’ve got to stop, because I can’t even keep my eyes open.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"We're getting hit by tear gas!" Live coverage from field reporters from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ABC7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ABC7</a> in Los Angeles as protests rage through the luxury stores of Rodeo Drive.<br><br>LIVE UPATES: <a href=\"https://t.co/xJQvixJr2S\">https://t.co/xJQvixJr2S</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xw9ZO9yFYN\">pic.twitter.com/xw9ZO9yFYN</a></p>— Good Morning America (@GMA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1266934049098121216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"xp6na\">In Reno, Nevada</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"0pnsz\">This Is Reno, an online news site, reported in a <a href=\"https://thisisreno.com/2020/05/riots-in-reno-after-peaceful-black-lives-matter-demonstration-videos-and-photos/\">multi-bylined piece</a> that, while covering protests in downtown Reno, “multiple members of the news media, including <b>News 4</b>,<b> KTVN</b>, <b>This Is Reno</b>, <b>KUNR Reno Public Radio</b> and <b>The Nevada Sagebrush</b> were tear gassed.” Lucia Starbuck, a reporter for KUNR and one of the journalists bylined on the This Is Reno piece, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luciastarbuck/status/1266916902464413696\">noted</a> the presence of tear gas in a tweet sent around 7:20 that evening. Don Dike-Anukam, a political reporter for This Is Reno, was also assaulted by individuals while reporting that day, a case the Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-while-covering-protests-reno/\">here</a>.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThisIsReno?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ThisIsReno</a> reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dondikeanukam?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dondikeanukam</a> got beat up. Tear gas released and the crowd scattered <a href=\"https://t.co/YxTTezxTgS\">pic.twitter.com/YxTTezxTgS</a></p>— Lucia Starbuck (@luciastarbuck) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luciastarbuck/status/1266916902464413696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"x8fw3\">In Las Vegas, Nevada</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"axc6m\">Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter <b>Rio Lacanlale</b> and photographer <b>Kevin Cannon</b> had been covering demonstrations downtown, and as the evening wore on, documenting protesters as they moved within blocks of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. Cannon told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he’d set up on a balcony adjacent to Fremont Street East and across the street from the Downtown Container Park to livestream. The location, he said, had placed him away from the crowd for much of the evening. At around 9:35 p.m., Lacanlale, who wouldn’t pair up with Cannon for another couple of hours, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/riolacanlale/status/1266951119785177088\">tweeted</a> that the crowd had reached between 800 and 1,000 people at its peak. Just after 10, she reported that SWAT had arrived, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/riolacanlale/status/1266960528812814337\">that</a> she was “hearing what sounds like flash bangs from a distance” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/riolacanlale/status/1266968335305990144\">and</a> “seeing a lot of protestors helping one another, spraying water into each other’s eyes, after tear gas was deployed near 6th St.” Cannon, who’d continued to livestream from his balcony perch during this time, told the Tracker: “I wasn't targeted with tear gas. Law enforcement didn’t know I was up there. I didn’t even look like a journalist because all I had was my phone.” At around 11:15, Lacanlale, who’d joined up with Cannon at this point, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/riolacanlale/status/1266976276968992768\">tweeted</a>, “While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.” (She later noted that she’d not been hit.) “Nearly all the protesters had left,” Cannon told the Tracker. “There was no tear gas. We were nearly a block away. I don’t think they knew we were journalists. Rio has no gear. I only had my phone. I did have my credentials on my belt, but there was no way they could see that far in the dark.” The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Lacanlale and the Las Vegas Review-Journal did not respond to the Tracker’s requests 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\">Paired up with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kmcannonphoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kmcannonphoto</a> now. While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.</p>— Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/riolacanlale/status/1266976276968992768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"rqfn2\">In Kansas City, Missouri</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"013hl\">A KSHB 41 Action News crew that included reporter <b>McKenzie Nelson</b>, photographer <b>Darius Smith</b>, and field producer <b>Scott Winkler</b>, was caught in tear gas deployed just before midnight. "We had to move. We are okay," Nelson <a href=\"https://twitter.com/McKenzieMNelson/status/1266957797268357120\">wrote</a> in a post to Twitter.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My photographer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/iamDSMITH86?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@iamDSMITH86</a>, field producer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ScottWinkler41?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ScottWinkler41</a> and I have been hit by tear gas. We had to move. We are okay. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/41actionnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@41actionnews</a></p>— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/McKenzieMNelson/status/1266957797268357120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"g1z3g\">In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"omwjj\">Minneapolis police officers deployed flash-bangs in the direction of NBC News correspondent <b>Morgan Chesky and his crew</b>, who were reporting live on MSNBC at 8:45 p.m., according to an MSNBC video of the incident. According to a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mchesky/videos/10105799322373615\">video</a> posted to Chesky’s Facebook page, city and state police pushed protesters away from the Fifth Precinct police headquarters to enforce an 8 p.m curfew. In the MSNBC video, Chesky reports in a gas mask a block away from Nicollet Avenue as state police continue to advance through clouds of smoke and tear gas. Minneapolis police appear from the other side of the block and yell, “Move!” Chesky and crew begin to retreat north through a bank parking lot. “We’re moving back,” Chesky says in the video. “We’re gonna give them all the space they need right now.” The video shows Chesky with what appears to be a group of other journalists and scattered protesters moving northwest through the parking lot as Minneapolis police trail behind. Someone yells, “Don’t shoot!” shortly before an officer fires a projectile launcher at an unseen target. Several loud bangs can be heard, including from a flash-bang that appears to go off just feet away from Chesky. “Let’s go. Let’s go,” Chesky says in the video as the group reaches a barrier at the far end of the parking lot. Someone repeatedly says, “Press, press,” to the police, who are now standing a few feet away. The journalists climb over the barrier and continue to report while retreating from the advancing police. “They are not hesitating to use tear gas, flash-bangs, whatever they need to do, to keep these crowds moving,” Chesky reports in the video. Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson John Elder declined to comment, citing unspecified pending litigation. The incident involving Chesky and his crew is mentioned in a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/press-releases/aclu-mn-sues-law-enforcement-over-attacks-journalists-covering-george-floyd-protests\">lawsuit</a> seeking class-action status filed by the ACLU of Minnesota on June 2 against Minneapolis and state officials concerning the treatment of journalists covering the Floyd protests. Chesky is not a listed plaintiff in the case. “Our crew was shaken, but safe,” Chesky posted on <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mchesky/videos/10105799322373615\">Facebook</a> after the incident. “And now, it’s back to work.”</li><li data-block-key=\"4q3h1\"><b>Chao Xiong,</b> a Star Tribune reporter who’d been covering protests near the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct that evening, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChaoStrib/status/1266959110265856000\">tweeted</a> a little after midnight: “I’m with @ByLizSawyer and 2 Kurdish journalists and 1 Japanese journalist near 5th precinct. Cops told us to go home. When we said we were press one said ‘Your cards are bullshit’ #GeorgeFloyd.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I'm with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByLizSawyer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ByLizSawyer</a> and 2 Kurdish journalists and 1 Japanese journalist near 5th precinct. Cops told us to go home. When we said we were press one said "Your cards are bullshit" <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a></p>— Chao Xiong (@ChaoStrib) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChaoStrib/status/1266959110265856000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"47nfa\"><b>Mara Klecker</b>, a fellow Star Tribune reporter, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaraKlecker/status/1266963871861964800\">shared a similar experience on Twitter</a> about 20 minutes later: “St. Paul Police also told media to go home tonight. I showed my press badge and was told ‘doesn’t matter.’” She added in a thread a few minutes later: “Let me add that all my interactions with St. Paul police tonight were civil. Clear directions, polite tone. I also wasn’t in any tense situations once the protesters were diverted from crossing the Lake St. bridge.” Later that morning, around 9:30, Klecker shared a direct message sent by the St. Paul Police Department: “Hi Mara. We saw your tweet about the police officer you say told you to go home. That doesn’t sound like something we see from a SPPD officer because we work hard to protect freedom of the press. But in the throes of such a dynamic situation, it’s possible one of our officers had a momentary lapse. It also may be possible that the officer was from another agency. There were a lot of agencies involved last night. Either way, we’d love to learn more so we can see if there’s a gap in our training or at the very least talk to the officer so we can remind him about our values and protocols. Would you mind giving one of our PIOs a call this week?” Klecker’s reaction to the message, which she shared on Twitter, was, “Very nice to wake up to this message this morning. Saint Paul police PIOs (public information officers) also helped media get permission to get through road blocks to get where we needed to be last night.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">St. Paul Police also told media to go home tonight. I showed my press badge and was told “doesn’t matter” <a href=\"https://t.co/FRx06R6G0M\">https://t.co/FRx06R6G0M</a></p>— Mara Klecker (@MaraKlecker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaraKlecker/status/1266963871861964800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"1r9fr\"><b>Hossein Fatemi</b>, a freelance photojournalist, shared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hosseinfatemii/status/1266919473111588865\">video</a> on Twitter around 9:30 p.m. in which munitions fire can be heard and a smoky haze can be seen in the background.<br/>In an interview with BBC Persian the following day, Fatemi shared another <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bbcpersian/status/1267162285442826241\">video</a>, of individuals helping to rinse out his eyes following the release of a chemical irritant. In an interview with BBC Persian the following day, Fatemi shared another <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bbcpersian/status/1267162285442826241\">video</a>, of individuals helping to rinse out his eyes following the release of a chemical irritant.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"fa\" dir=\"rtl\">گاز انبری به همه خبرنگار ها حمله کردن <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForGeorge?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#JusticeForGeorge</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Minneapolis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Minneapolis</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PROTESTING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PROTESTING</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/HEex0ajiLI\">pic.twitter.com/HEex0ajiLI</a></p>— Hossein Fatemi (@hosseinfatemii) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hosseinfatemii/status/1266919473111588865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"kfiop\"><b>Raphaël Grand</b>, a journalist with Radio Télévision Suisse, had spent the afternoon documenting the scene in Minneapolis, at one point tweeting: “# Minneapolis One city, two atmospheres. Riots VS Contemplation.” At around 9 p.m. he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/raphaelgrand/status/1266913238932959234\">tweeted</a> in French “Tear gas for @RadioCanadaInfo.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">Gaz lacrymogène pour <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RadioCanadaInfo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RadioCanadaInfo</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/PmZo3WNQ0K\">pic.twitter.com/PmZo3WNQ0K</a></p>— Raphaël Grand (@raphaelgrand) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/raphaelgrand/status/1266913238932959234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"fee47\"><b>Anthony Soufflé</b>, a staff photographer for the Star Tribune, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AnthonySouffle/status/1267122936105893892\">tweeted</a> images the following morning showing the journalist looking to catch his breath and having water poured in his eyes. “One of these groups came to my and several other journalists aid when we were tear gassed yesterday,” he wrote. In early June, Soufflé was among several journalists cited in a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/sites/default/files/goyette_-_complaint-c.pdf\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed by the ACLU against city and state officials, alleging violations of the journalists’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One of these groups came to my and several other journalists aid when we were tear gassed yesterday. I’m incredibly thankful for them. Thanks too <a href=\"https://twitter.com/scottsphoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@scottsphoto</a>. Amid continued protests 'sick and tired' group of friends teams up to provide medical help <a href=\"https://t.co/k4LZ3jx9dt\">https://t.co/k4LZ3jx9dt</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/4tOrddeiZu\">pic.twitter.com/4tOrddeiZu</a></p>— Anthony Soufflé (@AnthonySouffle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AnthonySouffle/status/1267122936105893892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hg833\">In Fort Wayne, Indiana</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"4yvd0\">A<b> WPTA ABC 21 television news crew</b> was threatened with arrest by an Indiana State Police trooper while covering protests in the city. WPTA news director Jonathan Shelley told the Tracker that he and other staff members had been caught in tear gas as they reported on the protests that day, but to his knowledge, it was never directed at the journalists. He said that shortly before 10 p.m., the police went through the streets with loudspeakers, announcing that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared and directing people to get off the streets. The news crew continued to stay on the scene, documenting arrests that were happening in the area. As they filmed a group of Fort Wayne Police Department officers handcuffing an individual, an Indiana State Police trooper not involved with the arrest noticed the journalists and “made a beeline toward us” from across the street, Shelley said. Video that Shelley took of the interaction shows the officer walking briskly toward the journalists. From a distance, he appeared to shout “walk” and “you’re next” at Shelley and his colleagues. The officer walked up close behind the news crew as they moved away from the area. “If I catch you, you’re going to jail,” the officer can be heard saying on the video. “I’m going to jail?” Shelley responded, then saying, “I’m press,” and “I’m moving out of the way.” “Then walk,” the officer can be heard saying. Shelley said the members of his group were clearly marked as journalists, wearing bright red jackets with the ABC 21 WPTA logo and press badges with their names and station affiliate visible. Sergeant Brian Walker of the Indiana State Police said in an emailed statement that Shelley alerted him to the situation and he shared the information with his superiors. He said he and Shelley discussed the situation and “the matter has been satisfactorily addressed” for both the news organization and the police. Shelley said in a follow-up email that his meeting with the Indiana State Police representative was productive and the matter was being addressed with the trooper. He said he was told that the Indiana State Police plans to use the video for training purposes in the future “in hopes of reducing the likelihood of future occurrences,” Shelley said. According to Shelley, there have also been broader discussions between local media and police, including the Fort Wayne Police Department, which took the lead on enforcement during the protest, and involving Indiana State Police. They discussed how the decision to declare “unlawful assembly” is reached and the rights journalists have to operate once such a declaration has been made, he said. In a separate incident later that day, Indiana State Police helped a WPTA journalist who’d sustained minor injuries when she fell while covering the protest. “Our experience as a team involved...examples of assistance to the press by law enforcement officers, as well as hindrance to the press in some cases. And so we kind of saw a little bit of both,” Shelley said.</li><li data-block-key=\"ueuz0\"><b>Brianna Dahlquist</b>, a reporter for Fox 55, and her news crew were caught in tear gas while covering protests that afternoon. “While reporting we got tear gassed and my coworker is hurt right now,” Dahlquist said in a video posted to Twitter. In the tweet, she added, “Tear gas [is] NO JOKE.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Had to put the phone down to catch my breath. Please lift us up in prayer. Tear gas in NO JOKE. 💔 <a href=\"https://t.co/r6l7CExWDX\">pic.twitter.com/r6l7CExWDX</a></p>— Brianna Dahlquist (@bridahlquist) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bridahlquist/status/1266874436373950469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"rtcve\">In Columbus, Ohio</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"zj6ce\"><b>Amy Harris</b> had started her workday in Columbus around 10 a.m. at a demonstration at the Capitol. She told the Tracker that the protest had been going on for about an hour and a half when police, who’d had a large presence at the scene, became agitated and made a wall of bicycles in front of thousands of peaceful protesters. Harris said she didn’t see this incident transpire explicitly, but it seemed apparent that a demonstrator had thrown an object at the officers, who then pepper-sprayed the crowd. Later, she said, more officers arrived and tear-gassed the crowd. Harris said she was assisted by protesters when the tear gas blocked her airways. They poured milk and saline solution on her face, until she was able to breathe again. She said that people from the back of the crowd began to throw bottles at the police, who then fired on the crowd with tear gas canons. Harris said she began to have serious trouble breathing and started to throw up. Some demonstrators helped to get her out of the area. “The protesters immediately came and sprayed my eye and offered milk and saline,” she said. “I took the spray of water and baking soda and started to be able to breathe. I recovered and went back to the area to shoot the arrests that were taking place.”<br/>Harris was struck by a projectile fired by police the following day while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, a case the Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-hit-projectile-tear-gas-while-covering-protests-louisville/\">here</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"nbney\"><b>Kyle Robertson</b>, a staff photographer for the Columbus Dispatch, told the Tracker that he was pepper-sprayed by law enforcement while covering a protest adjacent to the Capitol. Robertson said that as the size of the protest grew, groups of police officers on bicycles had moved to create a barricade and contain protesters to the sidewalk area and keep them off the street. Robertson said that a protester either tripped or was pushed into the street and that police officers immediately jumped on this person. Robertson said that local government officials who had been standing between the police and the protesters tried to intervene to deescalate the situation. He said he moved to photograph the altercation among the protesters, the officers and the government officials when the police began to use pepper spray on the crowd. Robertson said he took pepper spray on one side of his face and arm and on his camera gear. Unable to see in the moments after the attack, he said an individual grabbed him and pulled him aside and led him back to a local business along South High Street, where the man soaked his bandana in saline and helped him to clean himself and his camera. Robertson said the individual told him, “They were aiming for you,” but as he was focusing on photographing when the attack occurred, he said he hadn't seen what had happened and that he couldn't say if he’d been targeted. Noting his height — Robertson is 6-foot-4 — he said it was possible he stood out in the crowd and was clearly visible to the officers shooting the pepper spray. After a short break, Robertson said he soon went back to work. “I kept shooting with one eye and didn’t stop for several hours,” he said.</li><li data-block-key=\"hc2iu\">Another Dispatch journalist, <b>Lucas Sullivan</b>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DispatchSully/status/1266750146693550080\">tweeted</a> around 11:15 that morning, noting that both he and Robertson had been pepper-sprayed. Sullivan could not be reached for additional 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\">Our photographer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRobPhoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KRobPhoto</a> and I got pepper sprayed <a href=\"https://t.co/OIc0WviqOH\">pic.twitter.com/OIc0WviqOH</a></p>— Lucas Sullivan (@DispatchSully) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DispatchSully/status/1266750146693550080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"1g89p\">In Nashville, Tennessee</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"bo2y2\">Reporter <b>AJ Abell</b>, of Fox 17 News in Nashville was doing a live shot amid unrest at the Metropolitan Courthouse when a group of protesters interrupted his broadcast, forcing his team to go off-air. Law enforcement had been trying to disperse protesters from the area after some had <a href=\"https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2020/05/30/nashville-city-hall-and-courthouse-fire-george-floyd-protest/5295953002/\">lit fires at the courthouse</a>—which is also home to City Hall—and vandalized the grounds. At about 9:05 p.m., just before Abell went on air, officers could be heard over loudspeakers ordering the crowd to disperse. The sound of flash-bangs soon followed, and a large group of protesters was sent running in Abell’s direction. Some of them moved into Abell’s shot, getting in front of the camera while yelling protest slogans and expletives and giving the middle finger. One person picked up the crew’s tripod and threw it, though it sustained no damage. Abell told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had to cut their broadcast because “you couldn’t understand or hear what I was saying.” Aside from the incident with the tripod, Abell told the Tracker that no one assaulted him or his crew. In the minutes following the incident, after moving away from the courthouse, Abell appeared to be experiencing the effects of tear gas. “My whole face is burning, literally my entire face,” he can be heard saying on a<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/73949382289/videos/663806961105822/\"> livestream broadcast by Fox 17</a>.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"and3h\">In Raleigh, North Carolina</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"iui8j\"><b>Charlie McGee</b>, currently a reporter with Bloomberg News but a freelancer on May 30, said he’d spent several hours <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bycharliemcgee/status/1266840977874059265\">covering protests</a> downtown that afternoon and evening. He said that at around 8:45 p.m., police officers started to fire tear gas toward protesters who’d congregated near the Wake County Courthouse. Protesters, he said, then began to shoot off fireworks and shatter windows. McGee said that at around 9:30 he went to inspect and film some damage near the intersection of South Salisbury and West Davie streets, in front of the courthouse. Ten minutes earlier, protesters had smashed windows and thrown trash cans, but there were now only a few scattered people on the sidewalks and in the street, including a medic and another photographer, and no one within 10 feet of him, he said. “Out of nowhere, from the other side of the intersection, a tear gas canister flew in and landed by the right side of my feet,” McGee told the Tracker. “Then another lands and spikes to the ground by the left side of my feet and bounced a few feet behind me.” McGee said he moved fast enough to evade most of the gas, but he felt some irritation on his face. He didn’t capture the incident on video but afterward posted a message to Twitter about his experience. McGee said he believes he was clearly identifiable as a member of the press because he was wearing a laminated press badge around his neck and had been filming in the vicinity of police officers all evening. “It was either a misfire and mistaken strategy, or maybe someone decided intentionally to do that with a couple journalists in the street. But all of that is speculation,” McGee told the Tracker. A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said the department and an independent contractor for the city were reviewing the response to the incident. She declined to comment further.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Group of riot police fired this tear gas dump directly at my feet. Larger crowd and property damage was happening a block down the road, and ZERO ruckus from protesters in my area at time. These officers have seen me all day and know I'm a journalist. Ihave a press pass on. <a href=\"https://t.co/BUmKkrTbCh\">pic.twitter.com/BUmKkrTbCh</a></p>— Charlie McGee (@bycharliemcgee) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bycharliemcgee/status/1266906032539930624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"51smm\">In New York, New York</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"hayi1\"><b>Jon Farina</b>, a freelance photojournalist, was threatened by a Strategic Response Group officer with the New York City Police Department while documenting protests in the Lower West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. In an <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3kkZKBacQ/?igshid=1e1b0hfjuzkcz\">Instagram post</a> with a video and description of the incident, Farina said that he was walking with two other photojournalists when they found a group walking past the Lenox Health Greenwich Village hospital on Seventh Avenue. “We noticed they vandalized an NYPD vehicle that was parked in front of the hospital,” Farina wrote. “As the group was leaving heading uptown, someone came back and threw something that was lit on fire into the vehicle.” Farina told the Tracker that the three photojournalists stayed in the area to document the scene. Shortly after the group left, Farina said, an NYPD officer came out of the hospital, drew his weapon and pointed it at Farina as he was filming the scene from the street. “Get away from the fucking car,” the officer can be heard shouting in Farina’s video of the incident. The officer does not respond to Farina’s question of why the officer had drawn his weapon, but does appear to lower and holster the firearm. The officer then continues to shout for Farina to get away from the car and cross back to the other side of the street. “I immediately moved to the side and I just kept moving because I didn’t know if he would start shooting,” Farina told the Tracker. “I wasn’t even near the car, my [press] credentials were out, the other two journalists had credentials out, we had big cameras, so there was no threat to him, for him to do that.” At that point, Farina said he walked away and gave up asking the officer about his actions out of concern that he might be arrested or harmed.</li></ul><hr/><p data-block-key=\"ci7f\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h3 data-block-key=\"2p105\">May 31, 2020</h3><h4 data-block-key=\"hu7xl\">In Denver, Colorado</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"zkjzo\"><b>Lindsay Fendt</b>, a freelance journalist on assignment for High Country News, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that she was enveloped in a cloud of tear gas at 7:12 p.m. outside the state Capitol when a police officer kicked a canister of tear gas that had rolled in his direction. The canister happened to land near her, she said, and she inhaled the gas, which left her sweating and temporarily unable to see. “I just stumbled up a hill and thought I was going to throw up,” she said. She used milk and water with baking soda to rinse off her face. She said she does not feel as though she was targeted as a journalist with the gas. “I don’t think they were really paying attention to who anybody was,” she said.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Covering Denver protests tonight. Standing next to the police with a crowd of photographers. One of their chemical bombs rolled back and a cop kicked it sideways right into us. Took it full on to the face, but I’m ok now. I’ll tweet camera photos tomorrow. Stay safe everyone. <a href=\"https://t.co/u5TzAfXJI8\">pic.twitter.com/u5TzAfXJI8</a></p>— Lindsay Fendt (@LEFendt) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LEFendt/status/1266953418871984128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"bi18e\">In Austin, Texas</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"3f88f\"><b>Kacey Bowen</b>, a reporter for KTBC, a Fox affiliate station based in Austin, and her photographer were caught up in tear gas while <a href=\"https://www.fox7austin.com/video/689954\">reporting live</a> outside Austin Police Department headquarters. After throwing the feed back to the studio, Bowen and her photographer can be heard coughing and dousing their face and eyes with a solution Bowen said was provided by some protesters. “The tear gas definitely came down from [I-]35. We did get hit with it. It did get in our eyes and in my photog’s face. But we are doing OK. Definitely did burn for a little bit,” she reported once she was live again.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I had been following this protest all morning and it had remained peaceful up until this moment. <br><br>Thankful for the protestors who poured solution into my photographer and I eyes so we were able to keep reporting. <a href=\"https://t.co/1sqy59SvIa\">https://t.co/1sqy59SvIa</a></p>— Kacey Bowen (@KaceyonFox7) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KaceyonFox7/status/1267252821189107713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"fq05f\">In Dallas, Texas</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"xft4q\"><b>Tabitha Lipkin</b>, a host on NBCLX, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TabithaLipkin/status/1266950908530884611\">tweeted</a> around 11:30 p.m. on May 30: “Went into downtown Dallas to cover the protest. They were happening just a few blocks away from my new apartment. Here’s the images I captured. It was peaceful for the majority of my journey, but turned intense and somewhat violent towards the end.” In one of the four accompanying photos, Lipkin can be seen pouring a liquid solution into her left eye. A little after midnight, she followed up with a video and posted that she and executive producer <b>Americo Capodagli</b> had tear gas thrown at them: “I turned on my camera the moment tear gas was thrown right towards where me and my Exec Producer @americocap were standing at the press line. My first and first hand experience with tear gas.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Went into downtown Dallas to cover the protest. They were happening just a few blocks away from my new apartment. Here’s the images I captured. It was peaceful for the majority of my journey, but turned intense and somewhat violent towards the end. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NBCLX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NBCLX</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/qDGTD7rVBY\">pic.twitter.com/qDGTD7rVBY</a></p>— Tabitha Lipkin (@TabithaLipkin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TabithaLipkin/status/1266950908530884611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3qy1l\">In Cincinnati, Ohio</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"eqebb\"><b>Sarah Brookbank</b>, a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, was <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Enquirer/videos/619693188633657/\">live on Facebook</a> documenting the scene near the Hamilton County Courthouse right around the time of the city’s <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/05/31/cincinnati-protests-george-floyd-what-we-know-sunday/5299512002/\">9 p.m. curfew</a>. A few minutes in, she noted the use of what she described as pepper balls. A little over seven minutes into the video, an officer can be seen approaching Brookbank and other reporters in the area: “Go. Move. Now. What’d I tell you about curfew?” Brookbank and fellow Enquirer reporter Dan Horn can be heard identifying themselves as media and members of the press. The officer then says to Brookbank, “You don’t look like the media to me.” About an hour later, as she was documenting the arrest of a protester nearby, Brookbank <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBrookbank/status/1267278438924259328\">tweeted</a>: “Cops yelled at us as we filmed, told us to ‘get the f***k out of here’ and came toward us, I yelled that we were with the media, we’re told we needed ‘more visible’ marking. I have my press badge in my hand.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cops yelled at us as we filmed, told us to “get the f***k out of here” and came toward us, I yelled that we were with the media, we’re told we needed “more visible” marking. I have my press badge in my hand</p>— Sarah Brookbank (@SarahBrookbank) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBrookbank/status/1267278438924259328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"97n9b\">In Washington, D.C.</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"gwia4\">WUSA, a CBS affiliate station in the nation’s capital, <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/4-days-of-dc-protests-protesters-avoid-arrest-after-taking-refuge-at-logan-circle-homes-police-make-arrests/69-54c61594-cef6-40d8-9e14-b57adc026d5e\">reported</a> that at midnight reporter <b>Matt Gregory</b> and photographer <b>James Hash</b> “were tear-gassed on Live TV while reporting at the scene of the protest.” At approximately 12:25 a.m., Gregory <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MattGregoryNews/status/1266948494557941761\">tweeted</a>: “As they move the protestors down H street, police fired a combination of tear gas and flash bangs. We took a little bit of the gas. Protestors stopped to help us breathe and clear our eyes out.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As they move the protestors down H street, police fired a combination of tear gas and flash bangs. We took a little bit of the gas. Protestors stopped to help us breathe and clear our eyes out. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wusa9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@wusa9</a></p>— Matt Gregory (@MattGregoryNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MattGregoryNews/status/1266948494557941761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"pjtnz\">Reporter <b>Shelby Talcott</b>, of the Daily Caller, a Washington-based news website, told the Tracker that while she was covering protests near Lafayette Square just after midnight when police at the scene fired a tear gas canister in her direction. Talcott said she had to leave the area and had someone rinse her eyes with saline solution, but said that she did not require medical attention and was able to keep covering the demonstration. “I had to step back for about five to 10 minutes.” Talcott said she did not think she was targeted by police, as she was standing in the middle of a group of protesters and was not wearing credentials or clothing that clearly identified her as a member of the press. “My view of it was that it was thrown at me because I was in a crowd of protesters,” she said. “So I wouldn’t say I was targeted as press.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Struggling a bit after tear gas was thrown directly at me tonight during <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/tV7CWzEefh\">pic.twitter.com/tV7CWzEefh</a></p>— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelbyTalcott/status/1266968097996648450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"bvayi\">In Wilmington, North Carolina</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"ph42z\">Reporter <b>Emily Featherston</b>, of WECT, an NBC affiliate station based in Wilmington, reported to the Tracker: “Myself and fellow reporter/videographer <b>Bryant Reed</b> were, like others, affected by tear gas (authorities originally denied having used CS tear gas, but when confronted with what we experienced and a canister found on the street, walked back). Then, after being told by the chief of police we were standing in an acceptable location (on the steps of City Hall, out of the street and way of law enforcement), a Sheriff's deputy approached us in full riot gear.” Featherston said that the deputy then told them to move, to which they responded: “We’re with the media!” The deputy then said, “I don’t give a shit! Move!” according to Featherston. She continued: “The deputy then told us if we did not move we would be arrested on the spot. In the interest of continuing our coverage, we moved up the street.” In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/110795228128/videos/1456387391204324\">Facebook Live stream</a>, Featherston discussed the incident with New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon, who apologized to her. Reed later <a href=\"https://www.wect.com/2020/07/17/reporters-covering-protests-tear-gas-rocks-emotions-with-jon-evans-podcast/\">told WECT colleague Jon Evans</a> in his podcast 1on1 with Jon Evans: “We didn’t take a direct hit. Where we were, it was the wind that blew back the tear gas toward the officers we were close to. That’s how it got in our eyes, how we got affected. Then, one of the officers was telling us to disperse the area immediately or we could be arrested, so we had to walk back into the tear gas and we got more of it. At least for myself, it wasn’t that bad at first. But then within a minute it was ‘Oh my goodness, my eyes are burning terribly.’ I’m crying. We had the masks on too, which seemed to make it even worse.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A final update and personal message from me this evening.<br>Lots to work through and digest. We will be back in the morning with all the details. <a href=\"https://t.co/GUejW3hqKy\">pic.twitter.com/GUejW3hqKy</a></p>— Emily Featherston - WECT (@EmilyWECT) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EmilyWECT/status/1267314956988485634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"dex8h\">In Richmond, Virginia</h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"3rtxn\"><b>Olivia Ugino</b>, a reporter for WWBT, an NBC affiliate station based in Richmond, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OliviaNBC12/status/1267326052428328961\">tweeted</a> around 11:25 p.m.: “Here’s how it’s going down tonight. Police seem to be swarming vehicles and arresting those out past curfew. I attempted to get out of my car to shoot video and was approached by officers with guns pulled and was told to get on the ground.” In an accompanying video, Ugino can be heard telling the officers that she worked for NBC12. An officer can then be heard saying, “If you’ve got credentials, I need to see them.” Upon showing the officer her credentials, he says, “All right, yes, ma’am, you’re fine. Do what you gotta do.” In a threaded tweet, Ugino wrote: “I was told I was fine with my credentials. I then tried to get video of the arrest, with my door open, and another officer reached in and grabbed me. We were then told to leave.” In the accompanying footage, an officer can then be heard saying, “Back it up, back it up. I don’t care who you work for. Back it up, I don’t want you here. Let’s go. It’s a security issue.” Ugino complied and moved her vehicle to a nearby parking lot, according to an <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=835767240278562&ref=watch_permalink\">account on Facebook</a> she gave in the early hours of June 1. Neither Ugino or WWBT could be reached 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\">Here’s how it’s going down tonight. Police seem to be swarming vehicles and arresting those out past curfew. I attempted to get out of my car to shoot video and was approached by officers with guns pulled and was told to get on the ground. Here’s part one. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NBC12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NBC12</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/jFJ71kdBvy\">pic.twitter.com/jFJ71kdBvy</a></p>— Olivia Ugino (@OliviaNBC12) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OliviaNBC12/status/1267326052428328961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39UM4.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"552\" alt=\"REUTERS/Alyson McClaran\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"9l07j\">Protesters in Denver on May 31, 2020.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — REUTERS/Alyson McClaran\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q6daz\"><i>Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category,</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/other-incident/?categories=63&date_lower=2020-05-25&tags=111\"><i>go here</i></a><i>.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fgwk3\">Associated Press photojournalist John Minchillo reports during a night of demonstrations in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.</p>",
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{
"title": "Videographer hit by police projectiles in Minneapolis’ Fifth Precinct",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-hit-by-police-projectiles-in-minneapolis-fifth-precinct/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-08T11:11:19.119271Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:30:29.755819Z",
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"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tggag\">Police officers struck freelance filmmaker and journalist Mike Shum with two projectiles while he was reporting on protests in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020 for the New York Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"w6x10\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"hrct4\">Shum and Katie G. Nelson, a freelance journalist also reporting for the New York Times, were covering the fourth night of protests in Minneapolis on May 29. The night before, protesters overran and set fire to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. The focus on the 29th had shifted to the Fifth Precinct, Shum told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"pcpxl\"><a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007164958/protests-minneapolis-police.html\">Video</a> shot by Shum and Nelson shows hundreds of protesters gathered outside the station as police stand on the rooftop, ordering them to disperse. Police deploy tear gas and protesters aim laser pointers and shoot fireworks at police. The video ends with a line of police emerging through a thick cloud of either tear gas or smoke on Nicollet Avenue next to the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"oev7x\">Shum said he and several other photojournalists filmed the officers as they began to fire projectiles. Protesters scattered by the tear gas were nearby, but the journalists stood together “obviously trying to get our shots,” Shum said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i5wbr\">Shum heard projectiles whizzing by his head before he was hit in the foot and side.</p><p data-block-key=\"t9c2q\">“I was trying to hold my shot realizing I could hear the whizzing by and I was like, OK, they are obviously shooting at us. And that’s when I got hit in the foot,” Shum said. “We should probably start running now.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xhikw\">He said he wasn’t sure what kind of projectile hit him, though he suspected the one on his side was a ricochet given the force and angle of the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"vmumn\">The projectile that hit his foot “had more of an impact than I gave it credit for,” Shum said. His foot bruised with minor swelling. Walking was harder than normal but the injury didn’t require a doctor’s visit, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pkgu4\">Shum told the Tracker he believed the police didn’t specifically target him but were shooting indiscriminately in a general direction that included many journalists. He said he wasn’t sure which law-enforcement agency was responsible, or whether other journalists in the group were hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"5wvry\">Protesters, journalists and even law-enforcement officials have had difficulty at times identifying specific officers during the protests. More than a <a href=\"https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ooc/news-releases/Pages/multi-agency-command-center-report-on-civil-unrest.aspx\">dozen</a> different agencies joined the law-enforcement effort in Minnesota, often wearing similar looking uniforms.</p><p data-block-key=\"4t27k\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=545070406162328&ref=watch_permalink\">livestream</a> filmed by Jeff Wagner, a reporter with CBS affiliate WCCO, the Minnesota State Patrol can be heard over loudspeaker just before 11:30 p.m. ordering people to disperse immediately. Within the next twenty minutes, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-reporter-hit-projectile-tear-gassed-during-live-coverage-minneapolis-protest/\">several</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-european-outlets-hit-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/\">journalists</a> were hit by police projectiles and tear gas fired by either State Patrol or Minneapolis Police, all within a block radius of where Shum was hit. Nine minutes after Wagner filmed the loudspeaker warning, he, too, was hit by a police projectile.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ubso\">Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder told the Tracker he couldn’t comment on Shum getting hit. He added that “every use of force by the MPD is under investigation internally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sbbwf\">The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Patrol, didn’t respond to the Tracker’s emailed list of questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"mpi02\">Capt. Melanie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota National Guard, told the Tracker that “the Minnesota National Guard did not employ non-lethal rounds during the civil unrest in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and surrounding communities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qvgqp\">Despite the injury, Shum continued to report on the protests with Nelson. The following day, law-enforcement officers pushed him over a wall and fired on Nelson’s car in separate incidents, the journalists said.</p><p data-block-key=\"eebuc\">Nelson and Shum have joined a class-action <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/press-releases/aclu-mn-sues-law-enforcement-over-attacks-journalists-covering-george-floyd-protests\">lawsuit</a> filed by the ACLU of Minnesota against Minneapolis and Minnesota officials concerning the treatment of journalists covering the Floyd protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"yjr4j\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"56toq\"><i>Editor’s Note: Shum withdrew from the lawsuit in September 2021. The metadata for this incident has been updated to reflect that. The journalists documented in the Tracker and remaining in the suit can be found</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?case_number=0:20-cv-01302\"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></p></div>",
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{
"title": "Journalist hit with projectile two days in a row in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-projectile-two-days-row-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-04T20:59:12.490697Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:30:08.341092Z",
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"date": "2020-05-29",
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"city": "Minneapolis",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cqc8r\">Reporter Julio Rosas told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was struck by a projectile shot by law enforcement while reporting on a protest in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pw86o\">The protest was held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"qhcox\">Rosas said he was hit near Minneapolis' Third Precinct while reporting for Townhall, which describes itself as a conservative news and commentary site.</p><p data-block-key=\"7p3jg\">In the early afternoon, Rosas <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1266437348537106432\">filmed</a> State Patrol troopers and National Guardsmen stationed near stores that had been burgled. At about the same time, officials <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MnDPS_BCA/status/1266436388767105024\">announced</a> the arrest of fired police officer Derek Chauvin on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison later added a second-degree murder charge in addition to charging three other former officers with aiding and abetting murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d0de\">The situation grew tense as an <a href=\"http://news.minneapolismn.gov/2020/05/29/mayor-frey-signs-emergency-regulation-in-minneapolis-establishing-curfew-tonight-at-8-p-m/\">8 p.m. curfew</a> drew closer, Rosas said. He filmed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1266492246519623685\">protesters</a> emotionally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1266509533171658755\">confronting</a> a mixed deployment of National Guard and police, including State Patrol.</p><p data-block-key=\"0wh57\">Some officers can also be seen wearing riot gear with “Police” or “Sheriff” written on it. It isn’t precisely clear to which law enforcement agencies they belonged.</p><p data-block-key=\"ipv4p\">Protesters, journalists and even law enforcement officials have had difficulty at times identifying specific officers during the protests. More than a <a href=\"https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ooc/news-releases/Pages/multi-agency-command-center-report-on-civil-unrest.aspx\">dozen</a> different agencies joined the law enforcement effort in Minnesota, often wearing similar looking uniforms.</p><p data-block-key=\"e0prb\">Officials by loudspeaker ordered protesters to disperse 10 minutes before curfew, as officers donned gas masks, Rosas told the Tracker. Rocks and bottles flung from the protesters’ side of a barricade were met with projectiles and tear gas from law enforcement, Rosas said.</p><p data-block-key=\"afpwj\">But instead of advancing to enforce the curfew, police and National Guard troops began to withdraw from the area, Rosas said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfp75\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1266550380193873920\">video</a> of the incident Rosas filmed from the sidewalk, law enforcement are seen backing past a burned-out building. He told the Tracker he had informed the National Guardsman closest to him that he was a journalist. He was wearing press credentials around his neck. Rosas pans to the left as police fire projectiles toward a line of protesters down the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"nujlu\">Then the sound of another shot rings out and the video cuts off. Rosas was hit in the torso. He would later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1266539093908959232\">tweet</a> a photo of a welt of about 40 millimeters in diameter, the same as some of the projectiles he saw being used.</p><p data-block-key=\"w5k20\">Rosas, who was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-projectile-shot-minneapolis-police-vehicle/\">hit by what he believed was a pepper ball</a> the previous day, said the pain of getting hit by a 40mm projectile was on a different level.</p><p data-block-key=\"trcdh\">“When I first got hit, on a scale of one to 10 pain-wise, it was a 10 for the first minute,” Rosas said. “And then I thought ‘Oh shoot I need to get out of here.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"uiaux\">Rosas said he jumped over a small fence on the side of the road and landed on his back. Other people in the area helped him up and asked if he needed to go to the hospital. He wasn’t coughing up blood and didn’t feel pain breathing, so he went back to reporting, assuming he didn’t suffer serious internal damage. Later that night, he went to the hospital and received an official all-clear.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lhm6\">Capt. Melanie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota National Guard, told the Tracker it “did not employ non-lethal rounds during the civil unrest in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and surrounding communities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rzx8n\">The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Patrol, didn’t respond to questions sent by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ki9l8\">Rosas said he would be “very surprised” if he was hit by accident because there was no one around him. But he said he didn’t know whether he was targeted specifically as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"40yrt\">Citing his experience assessing threats in the Marines, Rosas said it didn’t make sense to focus on him, as he posed no danger whether he was recognized as a journalist or not.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xhlf\">At least 12 people across the country were partially blinded by police projectiles between May 28 and June 2, according to a Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/07/14/george-floyd-protests-police-blinding/?arc404=true#main-visual\">investigation</a>. One of those 12, freelance writer and photographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-permanently-blinded-others-assaulted-during-minneapolis-protests/\">Linda Tirado</a>, was hit in the left eye on the same night and precinct as Rosas.</p><p data-block-key=\"hoxyy\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nvmtm\">Townhall reporter Julio Rosas shows the welt left behind from a projectile that hit him while covering protests on May 29, 2020.</p>",
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"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Julio Rosas (Townhall.com)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "CNN headquarters in Atlanta vandalized during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-headquarters-atlanta-vandalized-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-04T13:27:05.745128Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:57.475314Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:57.396920Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atlanta",
"longitude": -84.38798,
"latitude": 33.749,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3az88\">On May 29, 2020, CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, was targeted by individuals who threw objects, broke windows and graffitied the large “CNN” logo out front.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ene4\">The crowd had gathered in Centennial Park earlier in the day, <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/cnn-center-vandalized-protest-atlanta-destroyed/index.html\">CNN reported</a>, but by about 7 p.m. individuals were damaging the news organization’s headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kmwk\">The protests in Atlanta were part of a national response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"doq4y\">As the crowd became rowdier on May 29, they set an Atlanta Police Department vehicle on fire and a SWAT team was called in, <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/cnn-center-vandalized-protest-atlanta-destroyed/index.html\">CNN reported</a>. As police faced off with protesters, someone threw either a firework or a flash-bang grenade over a line of officers. It <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/furious-demonstrators-swarm-cnn-center-in-atlanta-during-protest-of-george-floyds-death\">detonated in front of</a> CNN correspondent Nick Valencia and his crew as they reported from the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c0ha\">Despite that dramatic incident, no CNN employees were harmed, according to a CNN spokesperson.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g1ic\">“The protests were not directed at CNN and they were not protesting us/CNN, but our office in downtown Atlanta is a landmark location,” Bridget Leininger, CNN senior director of communications said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0unsm\">A <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/us/cnn-center-vandalized-protest-atlanta-destroyed/index.html\">CNN report</a> did note that some protesters were “chanting anti-media rhetoric.” In one <a href=\"https://twitter.com/fernalfonso/status/1266512702958112768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1266512702958112768&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2020%2F05%2F29%2Fus%2Fcnn-center-vandalized-protest-atlanta-destroyed%2Findex.html\">social media video</a> someone can be clearly heard yelling, “Fuck CNN!”</p><p data-block-key=\"qs2xv\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sbuaq\">Protesters stand in front of a vandalized CNN logo at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 29, 2020.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter for Swedish outlet struck with projectile during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-european-outlets-hit-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-27T19:54:17.894924Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:17.030017Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:19:16.955619Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b6xme\">Nina Svanberg, a reporter for the Swedish outlet Expressen, was struck with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"o39m9\">Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"hbcy4\">Svanberg told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that she and Thomas Nilsson, a photojournalist for Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang, had walked with protesters up from the Third Precinct to the Fifth Precinct on the 29th. National Guard troops and police arrived to the area to disperse the crowd and enforce the 8 p.m. curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"xbqgo\">At about 11:30 p.m., Minneapolis Police Department officers began indiscriminately firing projectiles and tear gas to disperse the crowd, Svanberg said. One hit her on the hip.</p><p data-block-key=\"hbnvo\">“All of a sudden, I feel a sudden pain in the leg, and I’m losing my balance and falling down,” Svanberg told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"n2d4a\">She said that she crawled behind a car to avoid being hit again, but was caught in the tear gas. Nilsson was affected by the chemical irritant as well. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-for-norwegian-outlet-targeted-with-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/\">his assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7we55\">The journalists eventually met up in an alley where an Australian news team was sheltering with its security team.</p><p data-block-key=\"gt9bb\">Svanberg told CPJ that both she and Nilsson were wearing press passes.</p><p data-block-key=\"2q9vz\">“The thing is, I think it was obvious that we were there working,” Svanberg said. “We were behaving like journalists and not demonstrators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6r8vj\">The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to multiple phone and emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ankef\">“We stood there for a while,” Svanberg said. “And then we just went from the corner and continued working.”</p><p data-block-key=\"z1vj4\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Indianapolis Star journalist pepper sprayed, threatened, shot with projectile",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/indianapolis-star-journalist-pepper-sprayed-threatened-shot-projectile/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-22T22:40:27.320438Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:48:03.823637Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:48:03.732427Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Indianapolis",
"longitude": -86.15804,
"latitude": 39.76838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uxjqr\">Indianapolis Star photojournalist Kelly Wilkinson was tear gassed, pepper sprayed, threatened and shot with a pepper ball on May 29, 2020, while documenting the first night of protests in Indianapolis, Indiana.</p><p data-block-key=\"rh7a5\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"t2r7l\">Wilkinson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protests that day had been largely peaceful until shortly after sunset when something triggered a back-and-forth between protesters and law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"rhkhu\">“It sort of spiraled downhill after that,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbwbv\">Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers began launching tear gas into the crowd, Wilkinson said. It was the first time she had experienced the chemical irritant.</p><p data-block-key=\"rl3fp\">“I don’t know whether I had a panic attack or what, but that first time that it got me, it got me good,” Wilkinson said. “I thought I was going to die.” After taking a few minutes to recover she said she was able to resume working.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rw4v\">Shortly before 10 p.m., as the skirmish between police and demonstrators continued, Wilkinson said she was working near a street corner where a number of police officers were assembled in a line. In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ericweddle/status/1266564799384649728\">a video captured</a> by Eric Weddle, a reporter with NPR affiliate WFYI, Wilkinson can be seen approaching the intersection with one of her cameras raised as she photographs the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"25fh3\">An officer breaks away from the police line and approaches Wilkinson with his weapon trained on her. A second officer appears to intervene and directs Wilkinson to step back; as she does, the first officer appears to begin lowering his weapon.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On the ground moments ago in Indianapolis. <a href=\"https://t.co/H4fto941z0\">pic.twitter.com/H4fto941z0</a></p>— Eric Weddle (@ericweddle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ericweddle/status/1266564799384649728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rkgx3\">Wilkinson told the Tracker that she didn’t remember the incident happening until she saw the video and that she hadn’t felt threatened at the time. “It does look quite shocking though, when you see it,” she added.</p><p data-block-key=\"uxwsj\">Wilkinson noted that in a separate incident that night she was struck above the knee with a pepper ball. She didn’t realize what hit her until she researched the wound pattern when she got home.</p><p data-block-key=\"1k0d5\">Later that evening, after Wilkinson had put on a gas mask to protect herself from the tear gas, officers directly pepper sprayed her, Wilkinson said.</p><p data-block-key=\"gl0l2\">“It looked like he was pointing right at me,” Wilkinson said. “I was maybe 8 to 10 feet away from him, so not too far.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gu1nj\">“Again, I thought I looked like a photographer, but maybe I didn’t. I did have all of my equipment on me,” she added, noting that she was carrying two cameras, a fanny pack and her press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"1w300\">The following day, Wilkinson said the Star issued new press passes that are bright yellow and marked PRESS in large capital letters. Editors from the Star did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"7x21c\">The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ou1ns\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Indiana",
"abbreviation": "IN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "CNN producer, crew arrested on-air while documenting Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-producer-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-22T16:16:58.135257Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:56:30.661884Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:56:30.556105Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yn71d\">CNN Producer Bill Kirkos was arrested with two other members of his CNN news crew while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the early morning of May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"62i4i\">Protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Thousands gathered around the convenience store where Floyd had been detained and at the police department’s Third Precinct building in the days that followed.</p><p data-block-key=\"uaioe\">At least five journalists were hit with crowd-control ammunition while covering the Minneapolis protests on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-struck-projectiles-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/\">May 26</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-less-lethal-rounds-during-second-day-minnesota-protests/\">May 27</a> as police officers launched tear gas, stun grenades and less lethal ammunition into the crowd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jwumz\">Just after 5 a.m. on May 29, the CNN news crew — comprised of Kirkos, correspondent <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-news-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/\">Omar Jimenez</a> and photographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-photojournalist-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/\">Leonel Mendez</a> — was reporting live a few blocks from the Third Precinct, which had been set on fire by protesters the night before, CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/index.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgn5t\">In the <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/29/minneapolis-protests-omar-jimenez-arrested-newday-vpx.cnn\">live footage</a>, Minnesota State Patrol troopers can be seen approaching the news crew and asking them to move.</p><p data-block-key=\"t4udc\">Jimenez calmly shows the officers his CNN identification and is heard telling the troopers, “We can move back to where you’d like. We are live on the air at the moment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u0wuw\">Within minutes, officers in riot gear approach and arrest each member of the news crew in turn while the camera continues to broadcast live.</p><p data-block-key=\"6o2yt\">Soon after the arrests, CNN posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1266321293974134784\">a statement on Twitter</a> condemning the arrests as a violation of the journalists’ First Amendment Rights and demanding that the news crew be released.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A CNN reporter & his production team were arrested this morning in Minneapolis for doing their jobs, despite identifying themselves - a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. The authorities in Minnesota, incl. the Governor, must release the 3 CNN employees immediately.</p>— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1266321293974134784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dx98f\">The three journalists were released from the Hennepin County Public Safety facility in downtown Minneapolis at around 6:40 a.m., CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/index.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4cup\">The local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists released a <a href=\"http://www.mnspj.org/2020/05/29/mnspj-and-tcbj-condemn-arrest-of-cnn-news-team/\">joint statement</a> condemning the arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"nydn3\">The statement reads, in part: “Police, State Patrol and other law enforcement officers should be well aware of the importance of the media whose job it is to document and report on breaking news for the benefit of the general public. We implore the responding parties to alert their officers on the rights of the press and the necessity of their presence as they continue to report on the current unrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g8eft\"><a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/minneapolis-minnesota-police-arrest-cnn-reporter-live-tv/\">Freedom of the Press Foundation</a>, the <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2020/05/cnn-team-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/\">Committee to Protect Journalists</a> and other press advocacy groups also released statements condemning the arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"tt1yt\">Minnesota Governor Tim Walz apologized for the arrests during a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs4VjEsigiU\">press conference</a> a few hours after the journalists were released, stating that it should not have happened.</p><p data-block-key=\"byb6t\">“This one is on me and I own it,” Walz said. “I am a teacher by trade and I have spent my time as governor highlighting the need to be as transparent as possible and to have the media here: I failed you last night in that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"za51e\">Walz added that ensuring that there is a safe place for journalists to report during such incidents is vital, and that the arrest of journalists can increase fear in affected communities.</p><p data-block-key=\"eszpi\">“We will continue to strive to make sure that that accessibility is maintained,” Walz added. “The protection and security and safety of the journalists covering this is a top priority, not because it’s a nice thing to do, because it’s a key component of how we fix this.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dkmvq\">Neither CNN nor the Minnesota State Patrol responded to multiple emailed requests for comment about the incident.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bh13r\">CNN producer Bill Kirkos is arrested with two other members of the news crew during a live broadcast from protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 29, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Minnesota State Patrol",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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},
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "CNN photojournalist, crew arrested on-air while documenting Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-photojournalist-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-22T16:12:55.313880Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:29.494788Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:29.388421Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e3ujl\">CNN photojournalist Leonel Mendez was arrested with two other members of a CNN news crew while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the early morning of May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgfbp\">Protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Thousands gathered around the convenience store where Floyd had been detained and at the police department’s Third Precinct building in the days that followed.</p><p data-block-key=\"484qx\">At least five journalists were hit with crowd-control ammunition while covering the Minneapolis protests on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-struck-projectiles-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/\">May 26</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-less-lethal-rounds-during-second-day-minnesota-protests/\">May 27</a> as police officers launched tear gas, stun grenades and less lethal ammunition into the crowd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"z5dok\">Just after 5 a.m. on May 29, the CNN news crew — comprised of Mendez, correspondent <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-news-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/\">Omar Jimenez</a> and producer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-producer-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/\">Bill Kirkos</a> — was reporting live a few blocks from the Third Precinct, which had been set on fire by protesters the night before, CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/index.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"wt435\">In the <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/29/minneapolis-protests-omar-jimenez-arrested-newday-vpx.cnn\">live footage</a>, Minnesota State Patrol troopers can be seen approaching the news crew and asking them to move.</p><p data-block-key=\"7v9l8\">Jimenez calmly shows the officers his CNN identification and is heard telling the troopers, “We can move back to where you’d like. We are live on the air at the moment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gf9dr\">Within minutes, officers in riot gear approach and arrest each member of the news crew in turn while the camera continues to broadcast live.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrz7x\">Soon after the arrests, CNN posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1266321293974134784\">a statement on Twitter</a> condemning the arrests as a violation of the journalists’ First Amendment Rights and demanding that the news crew be released.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A CNN reporter & his production team were arrested this morning in Minneapolis for doing their jobs, despite identifying themselves - a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. The authorities in Minnesota, incl. the Governor, must release the 3 CNN employees immediately.</p>— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1266321293974134784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ysgj9\">The three journalists were released from the Hennepin County Public Safety facility in downtown Minneapolis at around 6:40 a.m., CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/index.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0aonj\">The local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists released a <a href=\"http://www.mnspj.org/2020/05/29/mnspj-and-tcbj-condemn-arrest-of-cnn-news-team/\">joint statement</a> condemning the arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"y4bmc\">The statement reads, in part: “Police, State Patrol and other law enforcement officers should be well aware of the importance of the media whose job it is to document and report on breaking news for the benefit of the general public. We implore the responding parties to alert their officers on the rights of the press and the necessity of their presence as they continue to report on the current unrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tdcqb\"><a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/minneapolis-minnesota-police-arrest-cnn-reporter-live-tv/\">Freedom of the Press Foundation</a>, the <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2020/05/cnn-team-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/\">Committee to Protect Journalists</a> and other press advocacy groups also released statements condemning the arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"xaesi\">Minnesota Governor Tim Walz apologized for the arrests during a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs4VjEsigiU\">press conference</a> a few hours after the journalists were released, stating that it should not have happened.</p><p data-block-key=\"xf9mt\">“This one is on me and I own it,” Walz said. “I am a teacher by trade and I have spent my time as governor highlighting the need to be as transparent as possible and to have the media here: I failed you last night in that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u05j4\">Walz added that ensuring that there is a safe place for journalists to report during such incidents is vital, and that the arrest of journalists can increase fear in affected communities.</p><p data-block-key=\"yther\">“We will continue to strive to make sure that that accessibility is maintained,” Walz added. “The protection and security and safety of the journalists covering this is a top priority, not because it’s a nice thing to do, because it’s a key component of how we fix this.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v3foe\">Neither CNN nor the Minnesota State Patrol responded to multiple emailed requests for comment about the incident.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mendez.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1gtax\">The camera operated by CNN photojournalist Leonel Mendez continues to broadcast from Minneapolis, Minnesota as Mendez and two other members of the CNN news crew are arrested live on-air on May 29, 2020.</p>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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{
"title": "Photographer assaulted by police officer during protests; now part of lawsuit against NYPD",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-assaulted-by-police-officer-during-protests-part-of-lawsuit-against-nypd/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-18T14:25:30.757966Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:39.359062Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:39.175845Z",
"date": "2020-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4hy2l\">Visual journalist and documentary filmmaker Amr Alfiky was repeatedly assaulted by police officers while photographing a protest in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, on May 29, 2020, according to a federal lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"at081\">Alfiky is one of five news photographers who filed a <a href=\"https://nppa.org/news/news-photographers-file-civil-rights-lawsuit-against-new-york-city-police-department\">federal lawsuit</a> on Aug. 5, 2021, “seeking to hold the New York Police Department [NYPD] accountable for its violation of their First Amendment rights.” The suit is being led by the National Press Photographers Association, of which four of the journalists are members, in partnership with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.</p><p data-block-key=\"xrf3d\">According to the <a href=\"https://nppa.org/sites/default/files/Gray%20v%20City%20of%20New%20York%20et%20al%20-%20Complaint%20-%20Filed%208-5-2021.pdf\">complaint</a>, Alfiky was covering a demonstration near Barclays Center with his camera in one hand and press pass in the other when an NYPD officer began shouting at him. Alfiky repeated, “I'm a journalist, I have a press pass,” but the officer responded with “I don't give a fuck about your press pass,” shoving him in the chest with a baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"73wjf\">The complaint stated that the officer continued to shove Alfiky back, causing him to trip and fall with “such force that an approximately one-inch-wide benign cyst on his back ruptured,” which led to "excruciating pain.” The officer continued to hit him with his baton and did not stop until two protesters pulled Alfiky away and helped him stand, according to the complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"xqnj5\">“As a result of this assault, Mr. Alfiky suffered fever and infection. He later had to undergo medical treatment including a surgical procedure to clean the infected area in his back, and an additional procedure to remove the ruptured cyst,” the complaint noted. “Mr. Alfiky has also suffered back pain since the assault, which has been evaluated as likely caused by a traumatic incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"alh6d\">“He was showing his credential and not only did the officer completely disregard it, but actually said, ‘I don't give a fuck,’” Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel to the NPPA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “That seems to sum up, unfortunately, a lot of the attitude of law enforcement toward journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1n8da\">Alfiky and the New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39KII_-_Reuters_-_Shannon_Stap.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p1ik8\">Police officers at a protest in New York City on May 29, 2020, following the killing of George Floyd. Journalist Amr Alfiky was shoved and beaten by an officer while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": "1:21-cv-06610",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-02-07 00:00:00+00:00) Judge accepts journalists’ settlement with NYPD",
"(2023-09-05 17:02:00+00:00) Journalists reach ‘historic’ settlement with NYPD in First Amendment suit",
"(2025-04-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court affirms photographers’ settlement with NYPD",
"(2023-09-08 00:00:00+00:00) Judge voids First Amendment settlement with NYPD"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Amr Alfiky (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
