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{
"title": "Independent journalist said he was targeted with tear gas while covering a Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-said-he-was-targeted-with-tear-gas-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:12:25.089488Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-12T18:40:17.990824Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-03-12T18:40:17.874938Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lhzbb\">Independent journalist Brian Conley said law enforcement officers targeted him with crowd-control munitions while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d0lk\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"10eua\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"lu4wj\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c82m\">At about 2:25 a.m., Conley was filming as federal agents attempted to clear protesters from the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Salmon Street, in front of the courthouse.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1287520893078368257\"> In a video later posted on Twitter by Conley</a>, federal agents can be seen using tear gas to disperse the crowd and the sounds of other crowd-control munitions being fired can be heard. Conley stood close to federal agents as he filmed.</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/pdxprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdxprotest</a> but it looks like the gates of hell. I guess sleep deprivation made me forget just how scary the advance of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DHS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DHS</a> officers felt after 2am Saturday morning. This video has not been edited, only trimmed for Twitter's length constraints. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portlandprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portlandprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/EQ3JzbKw6Z\">pic.twitter.com/EQ3JzbKw6Z</a></p>— Brian Conley (@BaghdadBrian) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1287520893078368257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z6a5n\">At one point, a tear gas canister can be seen flying through the air directly at Conley from the left-hand side of his shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"c36rf\">“That’s like the second tear gas I’ve been hit with,” he says in the video. “They threw that shit right at me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w0brx\">As a tear gas canister smoked on the ground in front of Conley and two other journalists who were wearing gas masks, federal agents can be heard firing more crowd-control rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"bom13\">Conley told the Tracker he believed federal agents deployed the tear gas in his direction, even though he was standing next to federal agents. In the video, it isn’t clear whether the canister was deployed by federal agents. Conley said he was wearing a photographer’s vest and a helmet, both of which had press markings on them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijaig\"><a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/07282020_declarations_motion_sanctions.pdf\">In a statement that is part of an American Civil Liberties Union suit Conley joined</a>, he said agents began using tear gas for “no discernible reason” and that they gave no warnings or orders to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtwwp\">When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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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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"Brian Conley (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Journalist struck with projectile while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-projectile-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:13:28.775361Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:03.928863Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:03.841204Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"98c92\">Independent journalist Griffin Malone said law enforcement officers targeted him with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihzbf\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"80mkg\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"3jqfd\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzqov\">At 3:05 a.m. on July 25, Malone was shot in the leg with a projectile by a Portland Police Bureau officer. He said he was standing at the intersection of Main Street and Third Avenue at the time of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"k84rb\">Malone tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1286968297980755968\">video</a> of the incident, which shows a water bottle landing at the feet of the officer in the upper right frame. The office then turns and shoots directly at Malone at the eight-second mark.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is a water bottle get thrown from IN FRONT OF HIM and then he turns to me and other press and shoots me, clearly labeled press. <a href=\"https://t.co/NcYjlKwCli\">pic.twitter.com/NcYjlKwCli</a></p>— Griffin - Live Protest News (@GriffinMalone6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1286968297980755968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uywb1\">Malone said he was advised in conversations with the ACLU that the incident happened so quickly it would be difficult to prove that it was targeted. However, Malone felt that it was personal. “I had run-ins with that officer earlier in the day and they already acknowledged me and the other press standing in the corner,” he told Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"v7cd9\">Malone believes the projectile was a pepper ball. It hit him on part of his leg where he had additional padding, and though it left a tiny bruise he told Tracker it didn’t hurt him badly.</p><p data-block-key=\"s42vf\">When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Griffin Malone (Independent)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist struck in ankle with projectile while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-ankle-projectile-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-09T17:30:33.841100Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:39:08.484388Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:39:08.417496Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i17g3\">A projectile fired by law enforcement struck freelance journalist Sam Slovick in the ankle as he covered a July 25, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"e36eh\">The city had witnessed a series of racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The local TV channel CBSLA reported on July 25 that <a href=\"https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/07/25/portland-protest-downtown-la-los-angeles/\">several hundred protesters had gathered in downtown Los Angeles.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"nfbdl\">Slovick, a freelance journalist and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, LA Weekly and elsewhere, <a href=\"https://happs.tv/post/lEGuzGVWBzgLoxaVlMtR?fbclid=IwAR3Y_vJAju5OY_5uijXJh1-YY5H9XtsVJR-gmpjSepnaOHt3bSDqLiJsDwg\">was livestreaming the protest march that day from his phone</a> as the crowd worked its way through downtown Los Angeles. Slovick’s stream showed that at about 7 p.m., protesters clashed with police outside of a federal courthouse at 350 West First Street, with some protesters throwing objects at officers who responded by firing crowd-control munitions. Marchers retreated from the courthouse and calm appeared to return.</p><p data-block-key=\"ax6n4\">Slovick then followed the marchers through downtown Los Angeles while <a href=\"https://happs.tv/post/lEGuzGVWBzgLoxaVlMtR?fbclid=IwAR3Y_vJAju5OY_5uijXJh1-YY5H9XtsVJR-gmpjSepnaOHt3bSDqLiJsDwg\">livestreaming from his phone</a>, which was mounted on a stabilization rig, a device used by professionals and others to hold a camera steady while recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"9zaeq\">At 7:24 p.m., according to Slovick’s livestream, the journalist arrived at a federal building at 300 North Los Angeles Street, about half a mile away from the courthouse, where the protesters had reassembled. Slovick’s livestream shows the crowd listening to a protester delivering a speech about racial justice. Soon after, Slovick’s stream shows several protesters smashing some of the building’s windows with hammers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ms9ff\">When police arrived, Slovick’s livestream shows the protesters moving away from the federal building. Some remained in the street, others crossed it and remained on the opposite side of the street as protesters chanted at the officers. As police and protesters faced each other, Slovick stood at the front of the crowd, next to a protester with a megaphone who was chanting “fuck 12,” a phrase meaning “fuck police” that is heard at many anti-police brutality protests. At 7:35 p.m.<b>,</b> the livestream shows the protester shouting: “And we’re going to shut this bitch down and burn this motherfucker to the ground…”</p><p data-block-key=\"1v9qg\">As the protester speaks, a single shot can be heard before Slovik’s camera shakes and he begins limping away. “I just got fucking shot,” Slovick says on the livestream. Slovick crossed the street and sat on steps at the Los Angeles Mall to take stock of his injury. In the livestream, he is heard complaining about severe pain and attributing the shot to the Los Angeles Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"uuqw4\">“There was nothing threatening going on, there was no reason for them to be shooting anybody,” Slovick told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vxnn8\">Slovick said he was not wearing any press identification, but said he was clearly filming the incident with his phone mounted on a stabilization rig. Slovick said he believes the Los Angeles Police Department officers on protest duty would have recognized him because he has been recording such events for years. Despite that, Slovick said he did not believe they were targeting him with the projectile.</p><p data-block-key=\"23nto\">A <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sam.slovick/posts/10158647958446719\">photo he posted four days after the incident</a> shows a bruised and swollen ankle where Slovick was hit. In an interview with the Tracker, Slovick said he was not sure what kind of munition struck him. <a href=\"http://www.lapdonline.org/police_commission/content_basic_view/66657\">According to the LAPD</a>, the police force utilizes both beanbags fired from shotguns as well as foam baton rounds for crowd control.</p><p data-block-key=\"u4e94\">In the October interview with the Tracker, more than two months after he was hit, Slovik said his ankle was still swollen, bruised, and painful. He said he has joined a Lawyers Guild federal class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department over law enforcement’s use of force during protests this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rhkn\">Contacted by the Tracker, the LAPD said they could not comment on pending investigations and referred the Tracker to public statements on the police department’s website. On June 10, days after the Lawyers Guild lawsuit was originally filed, <a href=\"http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/66668\">LAPD said in a statement</a> that the department had assigned 40 investigators to look into allegations of misconduct, violations and excessive force during unrest. The LAPD also provided contact information to the general public to report complaints related to protest response.</p><p data-block-key=\"qhm2v\">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. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here.</a></p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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],
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"tags": [
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Omaha police shove, detain freelance journalist during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-shove-detain-freelance-journalist-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-08T17:12:38.268036Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:49:42.173240Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:49:42.043287Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8kspp\">Journalist Melanie Buer was detained by police officers while covering protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"siofd\">Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was held for more than two hours by officers who doubted her professional status, but she eventually was released without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"oq2r4\">On the night of July 25, protesters had been marching for several hours in downtown Omaha while police officers accompanied them and redirected traffic, <a href=\"https://www.ketv.com/article/120-people-arrested-during-omaha-protest-saturday-demonstrators-say-police-escalated-situation/33438974\">according to local news reports</a>. The demonstrators were protesting against the killing of a Black Nebraska man, James Scurlock, who was shot dead by a white bar owner during a Black Lives Matter protest in May. They also marched in solidarity with protests in Portland, Oregon, and many other cities against police violence following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ck41\">Once protesters reached the city’s Farnam Street bridge, police officers announced that the demonstration was an “unlawful assembly and you’re all subject to arrest,” <a href=\"https://www.klkntv.com/lincoln-man-speaks-out-after-being-detained-by-omaha-police-during-a-protest/\">according to local news reports</a>. Buer, who is a freelance journalist and an associate editor at Protean Magazine, which describes itself as a nonprofit leftist media collective, told the Tracker that when protesters reached the end of the bridge shortly before 10 p.m. they were corralled by police officers who began wide-scale arrests. <a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/city-prosecutor-charges-filed-against-30-out-of-120-protesters-arrested-on-farnam-street-bridge/article_e9df7a84-cf37-5030-8250-0cd703e66ed2.html\">The Omaha World-Herald later reported</a> that of 120 people arrested at the protest, 30 were subsequently charged with criminal violations.</p><p data-block-key=\"zm5mv\">In a timeline of the events on July 25 later <a href=\"https://www.wowt.com/2020/07/30/omaha-police-release-details-of-midtown-protest/\">published</a> by the Omaha Police Department, the department said the protesters were marching without a permit, were putting others in danger by walking against oncoming traffic and ignored repeated warnings that they were subject to arrest. Many protesters said they heard no prior warnings, according to news reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"sznxh\">Buer and two colleagues from the magazine were on the sidewalk on the northwest side of the bridge when police officers began firing pepper balls at protesters in the street, she said. The protesters then began jumping back on to the sidewalk, so they were surrounded and had nowhere to move out of the way as officers began making arrests. The other journalists, Ashley Darrow and Kristofer Nivens, declined to comment on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"qiosp\">Buer was filming the events on her cellphone when she was shoved by a police officer and fell to the pavement, she said. In a video she posted to Twitter the next day, police officers can be heard yelling “get on the ground!” and approaching the sidewalk area where Buer and others are gathered. The camera then shakes and the image is blurred and momentarily goes black, before resuming filming from a lower vantage point.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The first couple of minutes of the police escalation, featuring me getting shoved violently <a href=\"https://t.co/yYxvQdMOXz\">pic.twitter.com/yYxvQdMOXz</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287256162732212226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ihnyh\">Buer can then be heard yelling that she is a member of the press, to which the officer says “I don’t see anything right now.” Buer yells, “Are you kidding me? I have a press pass!” The officer responds “I don’t know that that’s real, I have no idea that that’s valid. Right now you’re getting detained.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3y7mo\">The journalist’s wrists were then constrained in zip ties and she was made to sit on the bridge for more than two hours, she said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Been detained <a href=\"https://t.co/YSrdPhOmQh\">pic.twitter.com/YSrdPhOmQh</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287217846838272004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6wj6g\">Buer said she had a press badge clearly displayed around her neck and that she repeatedly told the police officers she was a journalist, but that they didn’t believe her.</p><p data-block-key=\"2slsv\">“It would defy logic,” that they didn't realize she was press when they shoved and detained her, she said. In another video Buer posted to Twitter in the days after the incident, a police officer can be heard telling another officer that “she is saying she’s press, but I can’t verify that. We’ve got intel that they have fake press cards.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92mni\">“This is not a fake press card,” Buer responds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Going back through footage from the bridge the other night - here’s more of the conversation where this cop didn’t believe I was press.<br><br>“We’ve got intel that they’ve got fake press cards.”<br><br>Fuck you buddy, that’s not for you to decide. <a href=\"https://t.co/ZR0imZfydg\">pic.twitter.com/ZR0imZfydg</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1288132566390919169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 28, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"umoxe\">Shortly before midnight, Buer and her colleagues spoke with a lieutenant who asked them about the media outlet they worked for and told them they “needed to wear hi-vis safety vests in order to not be confused for protesters,” Buer said in an email.</p><p data-block-key=\"01p4v\">The lieutenant told his officers to cut off the journalists’ zip ties and take down their personal information, as well as that of the outlet they worked for. But “there was no attempt to verify our assignments with our editor or anything of that nature (though we offered it),” Buer wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"zaozz\">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": "Nebraska",
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"(2021-01-08 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist sues city of Omaha, police following assault and detainment at protest"
],
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"settled"
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{
"title": "Omaha police detain journalist during protest, refusing to believe he is media",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-detain-journalist-during-protest-refusing-believe-he-media/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-08T17:14:05.028251Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:40.572919Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:40.486959Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u4wy6\">Video journalist Jazari Kual was detained by police officers while covering protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 25, 2020, according to news reports and the journalist’s statements on social media. Kual said he was held for more than an hour by officers who doubted his professional status, but he eventually was released without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpn4a\">On the night of July 25, protesters had been marching for several hours in downtown Omaha while police officers accompanied them and redirected traffic, Kual<a href=\"https://www.ketv.com/article/120-people-arrested-during-omaha-protest-saturday-demonstrators-say-police-escalated-situation/33438974\"> told the local television network KETV 7</a>. The demonstrators were protesting against the killing of a Nebraska man, James Scurlock, who died during Black Lives Matter protests in May, as well as in solidarity with widespread protests in Portland, OR, against police brutality.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqrm3\">Once protesters reached the city’s Farnam Street bridge, police officers announced that the demonstration was an “unlawful assembly and you’re all subject to arrest,” Kual <a href=\"https://www.klkntv.com/lincoln-man-speaks-out-after-being-detained-by-omaha-police-during-a-protest/\">told KLKN- TV</a> in an interview. Kual, who founded the independent media company <a href=\"https://www.kualdomcreations.com/\">Kualdom Creations</a> and frequently livestreams protests in Nebraska, said the officers gave no prior warning or order to disperse before making arrests. <a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/city-prosecutor-charges-filed-against-30-out-of-120-protesters-arrested-on-farnam-street-bridge/article_e9df7a84-cf37-5030-8250-0cd703e66ed2.html\">The Omaha World-Herald later reported</a> that of 120 people arrested at the protest, 30 were subsequently charged with criminal violations.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This took place on 07/25/20 on the bridge approaching the intersection of 29th & Farnam in Omaha, NE. Minors were in the crowd. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Omaha?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Omaha</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nebraska?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Nebraska</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Peaceful?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Peaceful</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Protest</a> in solidarity with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/sOYUMQAjtL\">pic.twitter.com/sOYUMQAjtL</a></p>— Jazari Kual 🇸🇸 (@JazariKual) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JazariKual/status/1287399003001421826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"99vtx\">When asked by KETV about the arrests, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department told the network that “The protesters started walking in the street against the direction of traffic, then there were announcements made advising the crowd that they were unlawfully assembling before arrests were made.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b4zus\">Kual said in the KLKN interview that he “had my media badge on, I had everything on me. I had my company shirt on.” But police officers “didn’t believe I was media,” he said, and detained him for more than an hour. In a video Kual posted to Twitter days later, he can be heard telling an officer that he owns a media company. The officer responds that media are supposed to report from “certain locations” and tells Kual that he’ll be going to jail along with the other protesters.</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/OmahaPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@OmahaPolice</a> , please provide comment on if you train your officers to use this kind of “de-escalation”. <br><br>For those who say “not all cops are bad” ... the other officers that allowed this interaction to happen, passed up the opportunity to show that they are a “good cop”. <a href=\"https://t.co/MK0Km5yQg5\">pic.twitter.com/MK0Km5yQg5</a></p>— Jazari Kual 🇸🇸 (@JazariKual) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JazariKual/status/1288593063384940547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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=\"x9zob\">In footage from the bridge later that evening that Kual <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/1829722744/videos/10214858997908377/\">livestreamed to Facebook</a>, the journalist, constrained in zip ties, can be heard having an extended conversation with another police officer about his status as a member of the media. “We don’t usually arrest media, so I don’t know what’s going on,” the officer says. “Do you have any proof you’re part of a media team?” At about 16:48 into the livestream, Kual and the officer (who later identifies himself and gives his badge number) discuss Kual’s work and professional status.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d29f\">As the officer scrolls through Google results for his name, Kual describes himself as a social media influencer, saying that “no one wanted to hire me as a reporter, so I started my own media company and got a million views.” The officer then releases Kual after telling him to get more “official” looking credentials, and to “try to delineate yourself better from the crowd.” Police then walk with Kual to his car and cut off the zip ties.</p><p data-block-key=\"3p3qp\">An <a href=\"https://journalstar.com/news/local/cindy-lange-kubick-jazari-kual-on-the-streets-with-a-camera-recording-a-historic-summer/article_fc6c829d-0ce1-5e68-8fc0-c8bb1508eb5f.html\">Oct. 16 article in the Journal Star</a> newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Kual lives, says “He’s covered dozens of marches since April [2020]. Maybe 100. He travels to Omaha to livestream marches there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"umaq5\">Kual’s detainment was mentioned in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287575535124729859\">Twitter post</a> by journalist Melanie Buer. Buer was also detained that evening, which the Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-shove-detain-freelance-journalist-during-protest/\">documented here</a>.</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/Kualdom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Kualdom</a> was another independent journalist who was detained on the bridge last night - they didn’t believe he was a journalist. Another journalist with Noise was actually arrested and hasn’t been released yet</p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287575535124729859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 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=\"4n2d9\">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": "Nebraska",
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{
"title": "Converge Media producer hit with projectiles during Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-targeted-projectiles-while-covering-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-14T18:06:43.716904Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:34.782703Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:34.696377Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
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"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"utael\">Converge Media producer John Mitchell was pepper-sprayed, hit with projectiles and shoved by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2ezw\">According to <a href=\"https://crosscut.com/2020/07/seattle-protests-intensify-even-though-federal-agents-are-absent\">Crosscut</a>, demonstrators that day had gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood both as part of the wave of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, on May 25, and in response to the Trump administration’s recent deployment of federal officers to the city. Tensions escalated throughout the afternoon, Crosscut reported, and at 4:25 p.m., police declared the gathering a riot. In the hours that followed, law enforcement repeatedly deployed chemical agents and crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"18mih\">The police response to the protest led the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington to file a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/plaintiffs-motion-contempt\">motion for contempt,</a> arguing that police violated a <a href=\"https://komonews.com/news/local/ban-on-use-of-chemical-irritants-on-peaceful-protesters-expanded-through-september\">court order that had been issued in June</a> restricting them from using chemical agents and projectiles.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7u7w\">Mitchell did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment, but in a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/mitchell-declaration\">declaration</a> filed as part of the ACLU suit, he said he’d been “standing off to the side of the street with a group of members of the media,” his press badge clearly displayed, when “police began deliberately attacking our group by throwing blast balls right at us, even though our group only contained members of the media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"edaoe\">Mitchell said that as police were throwing the devices toward the group, a blast ball exploded very near him, with shrapnel hitting him in the neck and arm. A photograph included in the declaration shows a red mark on his neck under his chin.</p><p data-block-key=\"vaizm\">“Even though I was wearing a neck covering, I felt extreme pain and I had to be helped to the ground because I could barely stand,” he stated in the declaration, dated Aug. 3. “I still can’t hear correctly out of my right ear due to the explosion.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5g7px\">A couple minutes after the blast ball, he said, as he and his colleagues were trying to leave the area ahead of a line of officers, holding his press badge over his shoulder so he could still be identified as a journalist, police advanced and started to spray blue dye OC spray, also known as pepper spray, at the group. The spray hit Mitchell’s face, arm and credentials. He also stated that he did not hear a warning before the spray was used. “After being sprayed in the face with blue dye OC spray,” he said, “a colleague attempted to administer saline solution and water to flush my eyes. The police forced us to keep moving and wouldn’t let us to stop so I could get medical aid.”</p><p data-block-key=\"08a9x\">The ACLU motion argued that the Seattle Police Department “repeatedly targeted journalists with brutal violence” on July 25. On Aug. 10, the <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/order-clarifying-preliminary-injunction\">court issued an order</a> clarifying the initial preliminary injunction and barring police from targeting projectiles and chemical irritants at journalists, as long as they are displaying a press pass or wearing clothing that distinguishes them as members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"qtilq\">Julie Davidow, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said in a statement that the injunction the court approved in August strengthened protections for journalists, as well as legal observers and medics.</p><p data-block-key=\"zv554\">“Since the clarified preliminary injunction was approved by the court, we have not seen journalists subjected to the same kinds of indiscriminate and excessive police force they faced while covering the demonstrations that took place in Seattle last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd,” Davidow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8hyn\">Seattle Police Department spokesperson Randy Huserik told the Tracker in an email generally that the use of force and crowd-control devices were being investigated by the department and acknowledged that the SPD had used pepper spray and flash-bang grenades that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q698\">“If journalists covering events choose to place themselves within a crowd where those devices may be deployed, they have the potential to be exposed to these devices,” he said<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"u65pg\">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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"name": "Washington",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist shoved by federal agent at Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-by-federal-agent-at-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-13T20:08:26.550358Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:04:44.937907Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:04:44.839930Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3fuzk\">Independent photojournalist Maranie Staab was shoved to the ground by a federal officer while she was reporting on protests in Portland, Oregon on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"vy11t\">Racial justice protests in Portland had been held nightly since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The protests had<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"z5o70\">Thousands of people rallied near the Mark O. Hatfield District Court and the Multnomah County Justice Center on July 25, and numerous confrontations erupted between protesters and federal law enforcement agents through the night,<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/07/59th-day-of-protests-marking-2-months-since-george-floyds-death-to-be-met-with-widespread-portland-solidarity-marches.html\"> The Oregonian</a> reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"r13ck\">Staab told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was walking in a park across the street from the Justice Center when a federal officer saw her and, without warning or explanation, shoved her, causing her to fall to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"01wp0\">In a video Staab posted on Twitter, filmed by a social media journalist with Full Revolution Media, a tall person in a blue helmet can be seen pushing another person to the ground. Staab identified herself in her tweet as the person being shoved. “I was thrown to the ground by a #DHS officer while working as a photojournalist in #Portland.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On Sun. I was thrown to the ground by a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DHS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DHS</a> officer while working as a photojournalist in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a>. (shown twice for clarification)<br><br>A grwn man, outfittd for war, was compelld to put his hands on me, unprovoked, & push me to the cement.<br>I’m fine. But that’s not the point. <a href=\"https://t.co/Pa0ZZJh65I\">pic.twitter.com/Pa0ZZJh65I</a></p>— Maranie R. Staab (@MaranieRae) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1288602705062060032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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=\"cyjc3\">Staab told the Tracker she does not know why the officer shoved her. “I can't offer anything that makes sense.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fj6xk\">She said that she thought it might have been an effort to get people away from the Justice Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"j96ci\">Staab said she was carrying her professional camera gear and had used white masking tape with the word “PRESS” written in black marker to label herself on the front and back of her T-shirt, and on her helmet. She said she wasn’t near any protesters at the time she was shoved.</p><p data-block-key=\"si475\">She said she couldn’t be certain whether she was targeted because she was a journalist. None of her equipment was damaged and she wasn’t injured, but she said that the incident raises other concerns.</p><p data-block-key=\"tftz0\">“To me the biggest issue is just, we're a democracy and our press has consistently been obstructed,” Staab said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qa917\">The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"idbaa\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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{
"title": "Times-Dispatch reporter detained while covering protests in Richmond",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/times-dispatch-reporter-detained-while-covering-protests-in-richmond/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-06T20:12:03.068015Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:04:16.424438Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:04:16.329491Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -77.46026,
"latitude": 37.55376,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1t5e4\">Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Sabrina Moreno was detained by police officers while covering protests in Richmond, Virginia, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"a90ei\">On the day and into the night of the 25th, Moreno had been covering protests against racial injustice and police brutality that had moved through the city of Richmond and ended up outside the headquarters of the Richmond Police Department. The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"axkez\">Shortly after 11 p.m. on the 25th, law enforcement declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, creating a “tense scene” in which protesters taunted police officers and shattered the windows of Humvees, Moreno wrote in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sabrinaamorenoo/status/1287223762321117185\">message</a> on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6r8d\">About 10 minutes later, a flash-bang grenade was thrown into the middle of a parking lot across from the police station where she and other members of the media were gathered to the side of the protesters, Moreno told the Tracker. She said she became disoriented trying to leave the area and dropped her press pass. Eduardo Acevedo, the news editor of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Commonwealth Times, ran to retrieve her press pass and was hit by tear gas. The two journalists ran to another parking lot, where Moreno poured milk into Acevedo’s eyes in an attempt to counteract the effect of the tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsgw2\">As Moreno leaned down to return the bottle of milk to her backpack, several police officers appeared around the corner of the wall where they were standing, she said. One officer threw Moreno up against the wall while the others grabbed Acevedo, pulled his hands behind his back, and pushed him to the ground, according to Moreno and a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JLJLovesRVA/status/1287242052284096513\">video</a> of the incident shared to Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I captured footage of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RTDNEWS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RTDNEWS</a> reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sabrinaamorenoo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sabrinaamorenoo</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/theCT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@theCT</a> news editor @edace2936 being violently manhandled police. You can hear them ID themselves as press multiple times. RPD has repeatedly targeted reporters covering protests over the past couple months. <a href=\"https://t.co/Q1QrBA4dXp\">https://t.co/Q1QrBA4dXp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/WfFiPaPwii\">pic.twitter.com/WfFiPaPwii</a></p>— Jimmie Lee Jarvis (@JLJLovesRVA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JLJLovesRVA/status/1287242052284096513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"919d8\">Moreno’s retrieved press pass fell from her hands as the officer pulled her hands behind her back, she said. She and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/klokmipana/status/1287226623348137984\">Acevedo</a> both repeatedly verbally identified themselves as journalists, she said, and they can be heard yelling in the video “I’m press.” The officers eventually released the journalists a few minutes later after inspecting their ID cards, but told them to leave the scene immediately, adding they would be arrested if seen again, Moreno said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Everything moved quickly. Tear gas and flash bangs landed in the middle of the crowd. I ran with @edace2936 and when I was pouring milk into his eyes in a private parking lot, more than five cops surrounded us and threw us against the wall as we shouted “I’m press”</p>— Sabrina Moreno (@sabrinaamorenoo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sabrinaamorenoo/status/1287226221571571712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uy0q3\">Moreno and Acevedo went to a nearby convenience store parking lot to decompress. A few minutes later, some of the same officers appeared and “were making jokes about how they almost arrested members of the press and told us to go home,” Moreno wrote in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sabrinaamorenoo/status/1287231101203820549\">message</a> shared on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hgkl\">Moreno told the Tracker the officers didn’t believe her when she said members of the media were exempt from rules dictating an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"9myj6\">According to an <a href=\"https://richmond.com/news/local/watch-now-night-of-unrest-in-richmond-ends-with-6-arrests-property-damage-and-a/article_11b30f19-e70a-51f9-8e1d-ef53a1a4ba3e.html\">article</a> by Moreno published in the Times-Dispatch the next day, Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith said he would “make a thorough inquiry into the incident and that it will be under review.” Moreno filed a complaint with the police department several weeks later, she said. In March 2021, Moreno was told in a letter that the Internal Affairs investigation had concluded that her claims were unsubstantiated, but that in the course of the investigation other issues were discovered that weren’t in accordance with RPD policy. The letter provided no further details, citing the department’s confidentiality policy, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujofd\">The Richmond Police Department initially didn’t respond to requests for comment. On April 7 a spokesman said the department had “pulled the file for review,” but wouldn’t be able to comment immediately on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"dncvb\">Acevedo <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/commonwealth-times-editor-detained-while-covering-richmond-protest/\">told</a> the Tracker he hadn’t communicated with the Richmond Police Department about the incident. His detainment is <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/commonwealth-times-editor-detained-while-covering-richmond-protest/\">documented here</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"93gei\"><i>This article has been updated to include comment from the Richmond Police Department.</i></p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved by police, hit with crowd-control devices at Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-by-police-hit-with-crowd-control-devices-at-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-16T16:06:47.683302Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:03:54.355289Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:03:54.257580Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"btr84\">Independent social media journalist Joey Wieser said he was shoved by police and sprayed in the face and mouth with a chemical irritant while reporting on a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ev24c\">Protests in Seattle had been held regularly since George Floyd, a Black man, was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. In late July, the Seattle protests intensified when the Trump administration deployed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers to the city, <a href=\"https://crosscut.com/2020/07/seattle-protests-intensify-even-though-federal-agents-are-absent\">Crosscut</a> reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"366rd\">Wieser, who told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he began covering protests in late May by livestreaming and posting videos on social media, said that on July 25 he was reporting from the front of a large protest on 11th Avenue in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Police began advancing on the crowd of protesters, shepherding them around a corner onto a narrower street, Wieser said. Because of the size of the crowd, Wieser said, he couldn’t move quickly.</p><p data-block-key=\"yd5qj\">A <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/joeywieser/videos/10158290615720491\">video he posted on Facebook</a> shows Wieser repeating, “we are moving back, we are being peaceful.” Suddenly, an officer lunges toward him, sprays him and shoves him.</p><p data-block-key=\"9f486\">Wieser coughs and shouts out, “Oh my god I just got shoved and sprayed!” Seconds later the camera turns back toward the police, and an officer blasts an orange substance, which Wieser told the Tracker was pepper spray, directly toward Wieser, who begins screaming and repeats “I’m being attacked, I’m being attacked.” The camera becomes blurry from the spray.</p><p data-block-key=\"p54xz\">Wieser told the Tracker he was “completely incapacitated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gl1i7\">“I cannot breathe, and I cannot see, and I'm practically flailing about trying to get out of that situation,” Wieser said. “And then I am shoved incredibly hard — I mean the hardest I've ever been shoved in my entire life.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hl4b4\">Seconds later on the video, several bangs can be heard. The video, blurry from the spray on the camera lens, shows a bright orange flash, and Wieser shouts, “That exploded!” He told the Tracker that was when blast balls — explosive devices containing a chemical irritant — started erupting around his feet. He said it felt as though one had gone off directly near him, because he felt heat rushing up his legs.</p><p data-block-key=\"0hfdq\">Wieser said he was incapacitated for about half an hour after he was attacked. The video shows that he retreated to an alley where someone came to help him wash out his eyes. Wieser told the Tracker his Samsung phone, which he used to stream video, was so badly damaged from the spray that he needed to replace it.</p><p data-block-key=\"289hg\">In a July 27 <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/wieser-declaration\">declaration</a> he gave for an American Civil Liberties Union <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/plaintiffs-motion-contempt\">motion for contempt</a>, Wieser said he couldn’t open his eyes for at least 15 minutes, and his face, arms and neck were burning. “It was the most excruciating pain I have experienced in my adult life,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"7b1ws\">The ACLU motion argued that the city had violated an <a href=\"https://komonews.com/news/local/ban-on-use-of-chemical-irritants-on-peaceful-protesters-expanded-through-september\">earlier injunction</a> restricting Seattle police from using chemical agents and projectiles, and that the Seattle Police Department “repeatedly targeted journalists with brutal violence” on July 25. The motion led to a modified <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/order-clarifying-preliminary-injunction\">court order</a> on Aug. 10 that barred police from targeting projectiles and chemical irritants at journalists, as long as they are displaying a press pass or wearing clothing that distinguishes them as members of the media. Wieser, identified as an independent journalist, is named in the ACLU motion.</p><p data-block-key=\"k1bc3\">Wieser said that at the July 25 protest, he was not wearing any press identification, but he stood near other members of the press who repeatedly shouted to police identifying themselves as media.</p><p data-block-key=\"y1yo5\">Weiser said he did not feel that he was targeted because he was a journalist. “I feel that the animosity towards just about anybody on the street was indiscriminate,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"cntbl\">Three other journalists — Omari Salisbury and John Mitchell of Converge Media and Renee Raketty of the Seattle Gay News — were also hit with crowd-control devices while covering the July 25 protest, according to statements included in the ACLU suit, interviews with the Tracker and <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=377506619883346&ref=watch_permalink\">social media footage</a>. Find all <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-07-25&date_upper=2020-07-25\">incidents from that day here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"kefkp\">Julie Davidow, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said in a statement to the Tracker that the August court injunction had been effective in strengthening protections for journalists, as well as legal observers and medics.</p><p data-block-key=\"wggol\">“[W]e have not seen journalists subjected to the same kinds of indiscriminate and excessive police force they faced while covering the demonstrations that took place in Seattle last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd,” Davidow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2bkvk\">Seattle Police Department spokesperson Randy Huserik told the Tracker in an email that the department investigates cases of use of force or crowd control devices. Huserik confirmed that the department used pepper spray and flash-bang devices on July 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"j2iz1\">“If journalists covering events choose to place themselves within a crowd where those devices may be deployed, they have the potential to be exposed to these devices,” he said<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"jhspa\">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>",
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{
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"equipment": "cellphone"
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],
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"name": "Washington",
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},
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"tags": [
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist targeted with pepper balls by federal agent",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-targeted-with-pepper-balls-by-federal-agent/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-19T22:19:57.915466Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:03:31.542550Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:03:31.457720Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"77zh3\">Independent journalist Seth Dunlap was shot with pepper ball rounds by a federal agent while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, early on the morning of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ucwax\">Dunlap, a contributor to the social media news outlet <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/frontlineaccess\">FrontLine Access</a>, was covering one of the protests that had been held in Portland on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is<a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpejz\">The Portland protests had<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ntp2\">Demonstrations that began on the night of July 24 outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse downtown, a frequent flashpoint of confrontations between protesters and law enforcement, stretched into the early morning. Federal agents declared an “unlawful assembly” around 12:50 a.m., according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/25/portland-riots-read-out-july-25\">statement</a>, which estimated that the crowd size was still around 2,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"zvgtb\">Dunlap was filming outside of the courthouse at around 2 a.m. when he was hit, he told the Tracker. Video that Dunlap <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/seth.dunlap/videos/10105455495335683\">livestreamed on Facebook</a> showed tear gas blanketing the street outside of the fence that had been erected around the federal building.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9nu6\">About 52 minutes into the video, two agents can be seen through metal fencing, and one appears to gesture at Dunlap. The other agent walks to the fence and positions a gun to point it through a gap in the barricade. “They’re aiming this directly at me I think,” Dunlap can be heard saying.</p><p data-block-key=\"dflww\">Continuing to film, Dunlap turns the camera toward himself, showing his neon yellow vest with the word “press” spelled in large black letters on the front.</p><p data-block-key=\"ughmg\">Then the agent can be seen firing a number of rounds. “He’s shooting me. He’s shooting me,” Dunlap says in the video. “That was pepper balls on me. I want you guys to know that — that was marked press, identified press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a2pcf\">Dunlap later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sethdunlap/status/1287119017342169088\">posted</a> a clip of the encounter on Twitter. “The agent then proceeds to step forward and unload multiple pepper ball rounds directly into my chest and a few others rounds to my left,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sethdunlap/status/1287119021402255360\">wrote</a> in another tweet.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The press have a legal, and constitutionally protected, right to document and cover these <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> protests. That right was recently affirmed by U.S. District Judge Michael Simon specifically to these protests. Then, this happens: <a href=\"https://t.co/brZtoeUy8v\">pic.twitter.com/brZtoeUy8v</a></p>— Seth Dunlap (@sethdunlap) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sethdunlap/status/1287119017342169088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yy097\">He told the Tracker that he felt he was targeted for being a journalist. Not only was he marked as “press,” but there were no protesters around him when he was hit, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"r3bmw\">Dunlap continued reporting after the incident, but he was shocked. “That was the first instance when I had ever had anything like that happen to me so I think I was a little incredulous,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"k114k\">The DHS, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment about the incidents.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved by NYPD officer",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-by-nypd-officer/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-10T15:14:02.139291Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-21T18:47:02.080241Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-21T18:47:01.909731Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5pfyt\">Independent journalist Janet Burns said she was shoved by a police officer while covering a protest in New York City on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"u0ncy\">Burns said she was covering a demonstration that night in Lower Manhattan, at the corner of Delancey and Ludlow streets, for NYC Protest Updates 2020, a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/protest_nyc\">Twitter account</a> set up by a group of young journalists after the May killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests. The Twitter account has over 40,000 followers and provides regular coverage of protests and police activity in New York City.</p><p data-block-key=\"iqq2m\">“I was sending in pictures and describing what was happening,” Burns told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, while an editor for the account sent out the actual tweets that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"t2uzz\">According to Burns, clashes between demonstrators and officers had erupted throughout the night, and officers were blocking streets to contain the crowd. Burns said she saw several people tackled and arrested. “I could see that the police had some people among them, at least one of them was still on the ground,” she told the Tracker. Burns said that when she tried to get a better view of protesters held behind the police line, officers blocked her path.</p><p data-block-key=\"puig5\">“They didn’t want me to walk in their direction which was the edge of a kettle” she explained, referring to the term describing a common police tactic to surround and arrest protesters during public demonstrations. One of the officers told her that she could not move forward, so she waited a few seconds and asked another officer, who agreed to let her go. “I began walking that way but the [first] officer saw and became angry,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7y0p9\">Burns said the first officer blocked her way, pushing his chest against her to knock her over. “He didn’t use his hands, he used his chest,” she said. Burns said she was not hurt and none of her equipment was damaged. “The guy was just being angry,” she said, referring to the officer who had pushed her.</p><p data-block-key=\"15wdh\">Burns said she was wearing a press badge from the Freelance Journalists Union and another ID “that says that I’m a professional journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zqxmx\">The New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"1sl92\">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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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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"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, helmet knocked off at Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-say-they-were-targeted-by-law-enforcement-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T16:58:39.534675Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:02:25.279240Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:02:25.196152Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ehkqf\">Videographer Johnny Lynch said federal agents struck and shoved him, knocking off his helmet while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0716p\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"6p02y\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"20ity\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"uo486\">Lynch, who was reporting near the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Salmon Street, at the park in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center for Black Zebra Productions, a community-based storytelling production crew, said officers were known to “beat people up” in the park, so he tried to stay close by to document what was happening. “They would always push [press] back if we were up there,” Lynch told the Tracker. “[This] night, they were extra mad. They pulled my gas mask and knocked my helmet onto the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mu716\">In a video shared by Lynch and reviewed by the Tracker, officers can be seen aggressively walking toward him. One reaches out to grab what Lynch said was his gas mask and helmet strap. Another grabs the camera, which tilts downward where Lynch’s helmet can be seen rolling on the ground. Lynch said he had been wearing press identifications issued by The Sacramento Bee and Black Zebra Productions.</p><p data-block-key=\"nfqi3\">Officers then pushed him into the line of agents who were firing crowd-control rounds into the crowd, according to Lynch. “I was backing away and then they threw a concussion grenade directly at me that went off a few feet in front of my face,” he said. “Didn’t break anything luckily, but that was a really direct experience.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v6vdp\">Officers also threw a tear gas canister, which Lynch said hit him in the neck and left a chemical burn for a few days, but he said that the canister could have been directed toward the crowd in general.</p><p data-block-key=\"2v3t6\">When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Johnny Lynch (Black Zebra Productions)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist hit with projectiles, shoved while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-with-projectiles-shoved-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-03T18:56:46.123865Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:02:07.627914Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:02:07.500772Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lhsuy\">Journalist Jasper Florence was struck with pepper balls fired by law enforcement officers while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on the night of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"edo2c\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"7b8fx\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c4dk\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnkj1\">Florence was hit with pepper balls while they were documenting confrontations at the courthouse. In photos shared on Twitter, residue from pepper balls could be seen on an equipment bag on Florence’s hip and staining their pants. Their press identification is also visible.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Theese are from last night as I was heading out, you can clearly see I was shot in the chest hip and waist area, I had taken my press badge off my vest at that point but this occured pretty early into th night<br>They (feds/ppb)seriously don't care<br>1/ <a href=\"https://t.co/QLfQMNQWwd\">pic.twitter.com/QLfQMNQWwd</a></p>— Jasper Florence (They/Them) (@JFlorencePDX) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1287492682017775616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mw5rk\">Florence told the Tracker that law enforcement officers confronting protesters at the courthouse were firing “fairly indiscriminately” into protesters that night. Florence was wearing press markings, but said they didn’t feel targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fr7o\">“They were trying to fire at the protesters, but they didn’t really think about how they were firing,” Florence said. “It was a caught-in-the-crossfire kind of thing.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">(explitive warning) This clip sucks but I had my camera on a canister that rolled and stopped near me when I looked up they were already firing pepper balls,<br>Also sorry every time I get hit my immediate reaction is just swearing so bear with me here on that 2/ <a href=\"https://t.co/i84ShdwFyU\">pic.twitter.com/i84ShdwFyU</a></p>— Jasper Florence (They/Them) (@JFlorencePDX) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1287496582741467137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4e4ts\">Florence wasn’t sure how many times they got hit and described the injuries as minor, leaving bruises for several days. They were wearing a paintball vest, which helped protect their chest from pepper-ball impacts. Florence continued to work after being struck.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Photographer pepper sprayed while covering Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pepper-sprayed-while-covering-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-03T18:19:15.430087Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:58:36.119035Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:58:36.012779Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ecwop\">A photographer said a Seattle law enforcement officer pepper-sprayed him while he was covering protests in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0p91s\">The independent photographer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker it was clear police were aiming for his head when he was hit with pepper spray. “The entire right side of my helmet was blue,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"71yyc\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/25/seattle-police-declare-riot-renewed-black-lives-matter-protests/\">reported</a> there were approximately 2,000 people demonstrating that afternoon, the largest gathering in more than a month, as part of a response to news that federal agents had been deployed to Seattle. That morning, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best released a statement outlining that officers would carry <a href=\"https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2020/07/25/chiefs-statement-regarding-judge-robarts-temporary-restraining-order-on-the-city-councils-ban-on-crowd-control-tools/\">pepper spray and blast balls</a>, but not tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"q1zwe\">During the demonstration, the journalist said he was photographing a large gathering of protesters at the Seattle Central Community College and followed them as they began marching. He broke off from the group, he said, when another group of individuals began damaging property. He told the Tracker that he’d gotten ahead of the march when he heard a large explosion.</p><p data-block-key=\"0cyht\">Seattle police later reported that a <a href=\"https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2020/07/25/police-make-dozens-of-arrests-after-explosion-damages-east-precinct-and-march-turns-to-riot/\">device had exploded</a>, leaving an 8-inch hole in the side of the East Precinct at 12th Avenue and Pine Street. Not long after the explosion, a riot was declared and police began clearing people from the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"ulrdu\">The photographer said he was walking down Pine Street on the sidewalk after the demonstration was declared a riot with a group from Converge Media. He said they were walking away from protesters who were marching in the street when he was hit with pepper spray.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7akm\">“It was pretty clear that a significant group of us were media,” the photographer said. “I had my NPPA [National Press Photographers Association] badge clearly displayed on the right side of my backpack, with press on my helmet, and a big camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"doal9\">He told the Tracker he was most upset that he couldn’t take anymore pictures with his camera because it was covered in pepper spray.</p><p data-block-key=\"rd6fz\">The photographer said he knew what he was going into and that blast balls had already exploded near his feet, but that he didn’t expect to be sprayed in the face.</p><p data-block-key=\"yuxsb\">“I’m not sure what caused the pepper spray,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4m2c\">He was wearing a respirator, goggles and a helmet, so the side of his neck was the only part exposed to the chemical irritant. He said he experienced chemical burns, but did not seek medical attention. His camera, a Canon 5D Mark IV, had to be sent in for servicing, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbtzs\">The Seattle Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvsrk\">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 that followed the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p></div>",
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"name": "Washington",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Commonwealth Times editor detained while covering Richmond protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/commonwealth-times-editor-detained-while-covering-richmond-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-06T14:32:15.168069Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:07.826976Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:07.733245Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -77.46026,
"latitude": 37.55376,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u0n4e\">Eduardo Acevedo, news editor for The Commonwealth Times, an independent newspaper run by Virginia Commonwealth University students, said he was detained by police while covering a protest in Richmond, Virginia, the night of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rv8q\">Protests against racial inequality and police brutality were held in Richmond throughout the summer in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people at the hands of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"iyeao\">Acevedo told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and two colleagues from the Commonwealth Times were covering a protest outside of the Richmond Police Headquarters, where police had formed a riot shield wall and declared the demonstration an “unlawful assembly.” According to Acevedo, someone in the crowd threw a flaming object into a Humvee that had been parked to block protesters. Acevedo said police responded by firing tear gas and flash-bang grenade canisters.</p><p data-block-key=\"qlmm7\">At that point, Acevedo said, he became separated from his Commonwealth Times colleagues. He said he was disoriented and “running blind” because of the tear gas. A journalist from another Virginia paper, Sabrina Moreno of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, helped him around the corner of a building and began pouring milk in his eyes to help him recover from the gas, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qsc45\">Acevedo said a group of at least five police officers came around the corner of the building and suddenly moved in to restrain the two journalists. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JLJLovesRVA/status/1287242052284096513?s=20\">Video posted on Twitter</a> by activist Jimmie Lee Jarvis shows officers swarm Acevedo and Moreno while they can be heard screaming, “We’re press.” Officers pushed Acevedo face down on the ground, despite his shouts identifying himself as a journalist. Moreno's <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/times-dispatch-reporter-detained-while-covering-protests-in-richmond/\">detainment is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"44t6f\">After he had shouted his identity at least a dozen times, the officers released Acevedo, the journalist said. When Acevedo stood up, he said he was feeling claustrophobic from the lingering effects of the tear gas and the officers in riot gear crowded around him, so he asked an officer to give him some more space. The officer responded “no” close to his face, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxdcl\">Police let Acevedo go after he showed them his press badge identifying him with his photo as working with The Commonwealth Times, he said. Acevedo said he was released less than 10 minutes after police first restrained him.</p><p data-block-key=\"389bm\">Acevedo said he has not communicated with the Richmond Police Department about the incident. However, his experience was one of several incidents referenced in a<a href=\"https://splc.org/2020/09/letter-of-concern-to-police-chief-and-mayor-of-richmond-va-over-mistreatment-of-journalists-covering-protests/\"> Sept. 1, 2020 letter</a> to Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and the chief of the Richmond Police Department from the Student Press Law Center and other press freedom groups raising concerns about police treatment of journalists during protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgtff\">In an email responding to the Tracker’s request for comment, a police spokesperson wrote: “The Richmond Police Department has a long history working with our media partners and will continue to do so, with the common goal of public safety in mind.” The spokesperson asked if Acevedo had filed a complaint; told that he had not, the spokesperson said a formal complaint would have given police more details about the incident, but that in general, members of the media are not exempt from a declaration of unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xzij\">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>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2ir69\"><i>This article has been updated to include the identity of the second journalist detained.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Eduardo Acevedo (The [Virginia Commonwealth University] Commonwealth Times)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved by federal agent while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-federal-agent-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T14:52:16.621703Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:37.234397Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:37.152689Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3mnoz\">Independent journalist Seth Dunlap was shoved to the ground by an agent he believes was with ICE or another federal agency while filming protests in Portland, Oregon, on the night of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"zdaon\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"iai8m\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvlan\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"kdnwi\">Dunlap, a contributor to media company <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/frontlineaccess\">Frontline Access</a>, said he was filming officers tearing up medic and water stations from approximately 30 feet away when an officer dressed in black quickly approached him and yelled, “Get the hell out of here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"303jo\">Dunlap repeated the language from the preliminary injunction ordering federal officers to not assault or arrest journalists, but the officer shoved him back.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfcud\">“I calmly cited Judge Michael Simon’s reaffirming ruling to multiple federal officers that night and my interactions were generally fine,” Dunlap wrote to the Tracker. “Then one homeland security guard refused to let me stay and shoved me to the ground forcefully and threatened me with arrest. Only my loud pleas perhaps stopped that from happening, I’m not sure."</p><p data-block-key=\"krn3x\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sethdunlap/status/1287474732808335360?s=20\">video</a> Dunlap posted to Twitter that is no longer available, he can be heard saying that, as a member of the working press, he didn’t have to obey orders to disperse. “I’m going to respectfully allow you to do your jobs and you’re going to respectfully allow me to do [mine].”</p><p data-block-key=\"rcl6h\">After Dunlap took a knee, he said the officer turned around and walked away without saying anything else. He sustained several bruises, but didn’t know whether they all came from this incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"4dck9\">“I felt completely violated not only as press but as a human,” Dunlap said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Seth Dunlap (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalists hit by crowd-control rounds by officers in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-by-crowd-control-rounds-by-officers-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:02:25.434015Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:07:42.993639Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:07:42.911125Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mqrgl\">Independent journalist and livestreamer Rosa Watts said she was struck by crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"gm8am\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"koh5d\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"f823j\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"8fyij\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"hmzfn\">Watts said she was struck with a projectile fired by federal agents as she filmed through the federal courthouse’s protective fence in the early morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"4b3bg\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1286618588757991424\">In a video captured by freelance journalist Matthieu Lewis-Rolland</a>, Watts can be seen standing next to the fence wearing a helmet and jacket marked “press” in large letters. A projectile flies toward her from the left, appearing to hit her in the chest before she falls backward onto the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video of Feds shooting <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/press?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#press</a> in the face in violation of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TRO?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TRO</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACLU_OR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ACLU_OR</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AthulKAcharya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AthulKAcharya</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/fkGS2bHEcX\">pic.twitter.com/fkGS2bHEcX</a></p>— Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1286618588757991424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qta74\">Watts replied to the video by saying it was her in the footage. She didn’t respond to requests for comment from the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"eukiu\">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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rosa Watts (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Radio producer hit by crowd-control rounds during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-producer-hit-by-crowd-control-rounds-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:08:31.738200Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:46.900651Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:46.812379Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0y08s\">Radio producer Wyatt Reed says he was targeted with crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"kx2hq\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"80m55\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"ek2lx\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"wev5g\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"9xwwm\">Reed, an independent journalist and producer for radio show By Any Means Necessary on the Russian state-owned Radio Sputnik, was hit in the hand and knee by a tear gas canister fired by federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qai5e\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1286588240636518400\">In a video Reed posted to Twitter at 3:05 a.m.</a>, he can be seen holding his bloodied right hand up and saying: “They shot me with some kind of canister, and fucked my hand up, I think my finger might have been broken.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Feds just shot me directly with a tear gas cannister right before taking 4th & Main in Portland. I was sitting down on my phone and they hit me out of nowhere. At least one finger sprained & all my stuff covered in blood now <a href=\"https://t.co/WQbkRWFAHk\">pic.twitter.com/WQbkRWFAHk</a></p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1286588240636518400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2cd9z\">Reed told the Tracker he was wearing a helmet that was labeled “press” and had duct tape that said “press” on his clothing. He said he believed he was targeted given that he had positioned himself away from protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"qr1l2\">“I just personally wasn’t near anybody. I’m sure I was at least 20-some feet from everyone else,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kd3q9\">Reed said his knee was “super inflamed” for a few days and that it was pretty hard to walk. Speaking to the Tracker in November, four months after the incident, he said he still felt pain in his knee he didn’t have before the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"u3b3q\">“I can’t tell if I was lucky or unlucky, because I think it probably could have been a lot worse,” he said.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Wyatt Reed (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "LA Times journalist hit by crowd-control rounds despite court order in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-journalist-hit-by-crowd-control-rounds-despite-court-order-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:06:06.304935Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:23.765113Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:23.680056Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l0oqk\">Los Angeles Times correspondent Melissa Etehad said she was targeted with crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqws4\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"s6qse\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"w6fpr\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"77jth\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"nae9q\">Etehad told the Tracker she posted on Twitter that she was<a href=\"https://twitter.com/melissaetehad/status/1286613726678749185\"> struck in the waist with a “rubber bullet”</a> while covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Also—I was hit by a rubber bullet on my waist even though I had clearly identified myself as a reporter and had just showed my credentials to agents just minutes before</p>— Melissa Etehad اتحاد (@melissaetehad) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/melissaetehad/status/1286613726678749185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"idbe0\">According to notes Etehad supplied the Tracker, federal agents outside the Multnomah County Justice Center deployed tear gas directly at her and a group of reporters at about 1:30 a.m. on July 24. She said the agents were about 10 feet away when they used the tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"3nd8n\">Following the deployment of tear gas, Etehad said she was holding up press identification to make it clear to federal agents that she was a journalist. She said she was staying away from protesters and was close enough to federal agents that they could see she was press.</p><p data-block-key=\"u25sn\">According to her notes, at 1:45 a.m. she turned around to leave the area as federal agents began moving on protesters and again firing tear gas. “That’s when I got hit by the rubber bullet,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vg4wj\">She estimated she was at least 15 feet away from the nearest protester when she was hit in the waist while trying to retreat. Etehad was wearing a high-visibility vest, a gas mask and a helmet when she was hit. She also had press credentials hanging on a lanyard around her neck and was holding them up to show agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"y0yj4\">“I’m 99% sure I was targeted,” she said, noting again that she was close enough for agents to identify her and had remained in the same spot for a while before fleeing. “I was away from the protesters. It was aimed at me. They knew I was a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y6sem\">Etehad said the projectile left a bruise that lasted several weeks and that it hurt to walk in the following days. “I got lucky,” she said.</p></div>",
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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{
"title": "Journalists hit by crowd-control rounds by federal officers in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-by-crowd-control-rounds-by-federal-officers-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:00:31.999542Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:07:18.354437Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:07:18.278528Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"776ix\">KATU ABC 2 photojournalist Ric Peavyhouse was struck by crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"mvinu\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"5qvzf\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"0cyhb\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"779xx\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"3drw6\">Peavyhouse was filming federal agents though a protective fence around the federal courthouse when he was “hit by something that felt like buckshot,”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/RPeavyhouse/status/1286572066812997633\"> he wrote on Twitter</a> at 1 a.m. alongside a video he uploaded of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0vys\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Feds came out. Tear gas. I got hit by something that felt like buck shot 44 seconds in. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/efdS9p6u2V\">pic.twitter.com/efdS9p6u2V</a></p>— Ric Peavyhouse (@RPeavyhouse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RPeavyhouse/status/1286572066812997633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v3wi3\">In Peavyhouse’s video, protesters can be heard taunting federal agents on the other side of the fence before the camera jerks sharply and Peavyhouse retreats.</p><p data-block-key=\"uy8gg\">At 2:15 a.m., Peavyhouse tweeted a photograph of a hospital wristband and wrote “not how you want a protest to end.” He replied to a comment saying he had something “stuck in his eye.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mzgky\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/RPeavyhouse/status/1286792054098419713\">In a tweet that afternoon</a> Peaveyhouse wrote: “My best guess for what hit me in the eye last night was pepperball shrapnel shot at head level. Going frame-by-frame, it looks like officers shooting from the steps hit the officer in front of me and then I went down. I felt similar debris/shrapnel the other night. #pdxprotest”</p><p data-block-key=\"epgz0\">Neither Peavyhouse nor a news director at KATU ABC 2 responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"shot / shot at"
],
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],
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{
"title": "Journalist struck in head with projectiles despite court order in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-in-head-with-projectiles-despite-court-order-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:04:14.078534Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:03.545303Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:08:03.445783Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2eklg\">Jasper Florence was struck in the head with a projectile fired by federal agents while the independent journalist was documenting the protests in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"syjfg\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"mmso1\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"5x2u6\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"q76zv\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"cs5pl\">“I have just been shot in the head,”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1286565045338439681\"> Florence tweeted at 12:33 a.m.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"axpy0\">Florence said they were on their phone writing a tweet when they were hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"24hdu\">“It was just sort of like a blunt force impact and then just powder everywhere,” said Florence, who described the projectile as larger than a pepper ball, a munition frequently used by law enforcement across the country that Florence has been hit with before.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzwa8\">Florence was wearing a helmet, but said they believed they had suffered a concussion, experiencing brain fog, difficulty thinking and migraines in the following days. The helmet was marked as “press” as was a paintball vest they were wearing that night. Florence said they believed the press markings were visible to federal agents and that the incident was targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"te279\">Florence said later that night they were struck with what they believe was a tear gas canister in the knee, which destroyed a plastic motorcycle knee guard they were wearing. Florence said the knee remained sore for the following days but wasn’t seriously injured.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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{
"title": "Independent journalist hit with crowd-control munitions while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-hit-with-crowd-control-munitions-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-19T21:41:44.670118Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:06:58.209010Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:06:58.123803Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ktvqh\">Independent social media journalist Teebs Auberdine was hit with projectiles on the legs and ankle fired by federal agents while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon on July 24, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bh8i\">Protests had been held in Portland on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"vi0kv\">The Portland protests had<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"xiwmv\">Early on July 24, Auberdine was standing on the sidewalk across Southwest Third Avenue from the courthouse when federal agents came out from behind the fencing to push protesters back, Auberdine told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujxm8\">Auberdine said federal agents were firing projectiles to drive protesters away, and a flash-bang grenade went off less than a foot away from her, slightly below their waist to the side. She said another projectile hit her in the ankle, causing bruising and swelling.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5nqm\">Auberdine later<a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1286607273431666689?s=20\"> posted a photograph on Twitter</a> of the black pants she was wearing that night, which were coated in residue and white powder she said was from the crowd control munitions federal agents used.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got shot at & hit a lot tonight, I have a fresh bruise on my ankle.<br><br>I was also hit in the back of the legs with (what I'm pretty confident was) an OC canister.<br><br>Are these pants salvageable, or am I gonna ruin my laundry machine? <a href=\"https://t.co/IDVUEpLx4V\">pic.twitter.com/IDVUEpLx4V</a></p>— Teebs (@TeebsGaming) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1286607273431666689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dd5sf\">Auberdine said she was wearing a black bulletproof vest with the word “press” spelled in large white letters on the front and back. She also carried a microphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"g4y09\">The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment about the incidents.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist struck in leg with flash-bang grenade",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-crowd-control-rounds-federal-officers-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-14T15:58:47.342022Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:06:38.214075Z",
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"city": "Portland",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8zt21\">Freelance journalist Sergio Olmos said he was struck by crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon,on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"dnlsx\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"7zleo\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"kbcya\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a0qp\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"ljcv5\">Olmos said he was struck in the leg with what he described as “some kind of flash bang” while filming the protest at the federal courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"icl6q\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1286575153871167489\">In a video Olmos uploaded to Twitter</a> at 1:13 a.m., sparks can be seen flying above the journalist before a canister tumbles in front of him and a bang is heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"gksez\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some kind of flash bang goes off on my legs, it hurt enough that I had to walk off for a bit, but didn’t burn through my sambas. I’m good <a href=\"https://t.co/5A0po4jDhO\">pic.twitter.com/5A0po4jDhO</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1286575153871167489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"px6v8\">“Some kind of flash bang goes off on my legs, it hurt enough that I had to walk off for a bit, but didn’t burn through my Sambas. I’m good,” he wrote on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"jdxpv\">Later, after he left downtown Portland,<a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1286609123748900870\"> Olmos shared a picture</a> of small blood spots on the back of his leg writing: “must have burned through my pants.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d35d7\">Olmos didn’t respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Journalist hit with multiple projectiles despite court order in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-projectiles-despite-court-order-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-14T15:55:06.986827Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:06:16.587224Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:06:16.512827Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"luyjc\">Independent journalist Brian Conley was struck with crowd-control munitions fired by federal agents and said he also was targeted with a tear gas canister during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"txfr5\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjcvv\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"u1x0q\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"lai2y\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"2xma8\">At about 4 a.m., Conley said he was filming a line of federal agents outside the federal courthouse at the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Salmon Street. In a statement that is part of an<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/07282020_declarations_motion_sanctions.pdf\"> ACLU suit Conley has joined</a>, he wrote that the crowd was sparse and “mostly press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yo5ui\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMI5UXYXmDg&feature=youtu.be\">Video shot by Conley</a> shows a protester approaching federal agents and dancing in front of them while holding flowers. After several minutes, federal agents can be seen grabbing the protester. As other protesters tried to intervene and wrest the detained protester from the agents, the officers began firing crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"gqcjb\">“Suddenly, without warning, the federal agent at the Courthouse shot me multiple times in my chest and my foot with incredibly painful impact munitions,” Conley wrote. “I was not in front of the few remaining protestors. There was nobody else nearby except press and a few medics. The pain was immense, but I continued to document what was happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17m8k\">In the video, Conley can be heard yelling “Press! Press! Right here man, press!”</p><p data-block-key=\"rgfak\">He said he was wearing a photographer’s vest and helmet with press markings and was filming with a large camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mvwc\">“I was very much there as a member of the press,” he told the Tracker. “I was doing my best to stay away from protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9tikj\">After several minutes, federal agents went inside the protective fence surrounding the courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"jki5p\">In the video, Conley can be heard saying: “So let’s be clear, I was definitely just shot multiple times despite announcing that I was press, despite being a plaintiff in a federal complaint. I was not directly in front of the protesters, I was keeping my distance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mk0ar\">Soon after, he said a tear gas canister was deployed directly at his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb3t5\">“There was no warning. It was shooting flames and exploded above me,” he wrote in a statement that is part of the ACLU suit.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "OPB reporter struck in hand with projectile while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/opb-reporter-struck-hand-projectile-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-14T15:45:19.958419Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:57.543181Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:57.463069Z",
"date": "2020-07-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"81qb6\">Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Rebecca Ellis was one of at least eight journalists struck by crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon on July 24, 2020, despite a fresh court order barring federal agents in the city from harming members of the press covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"qgsq3\">Portland had been experiencing daily protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"g7i79\">The presence of federal law enforcement in Portland in July<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> intensified the city's regular protests</a> and the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland became a nightly flashpoint. A temporary restraining order from July 2 that barred Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Despite the expansion of the temporary restraining order, the following day numerous journalists were hit with crowd control munitions in the vicinity of the federal courthouse as protesters again gathered there. Some said they believed they were targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"21dl9\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. In its<a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/24/portland-riots-read-out-july-24\"> “Portland Riots Read-out”</a> DHS said one federal officer was injured during the protest, which began the night of July 23 and went through the morning of July 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"fy7nh\">“No injuries to protestors or rioters have been reported” the statement added. It didn’t mention any injuries to journalists, despite reports some reporters were hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hkz9\">Ellis was struck with a projectile fired by federal agents as she filmed them advancing at the intersection of Southwest Main Street and Southwest Third Avenue next to the federal courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"b1hdy\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Rjaellis/status/1286578718693978113\">A video posted to Twitter</a> by Ellis at 1:27 a.m. shows federal agents firing several projectiles that appear to be tear-gas canisters as they advance down Southwest Main. The video shakes and Ellis can be heard exclaiming “ow!” as one of the projectiles strikes her in the hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"rm342\">“Feds approaching and just got shot in hand trying to film. Don’t think that TRO worked,” she wrote on Twitter alongside the video, referencing the temporary restraining order.</p><p data-block-key=\"oh5k0\">She told the Tracker she was wearing a lanyard with press credentials and was standing alongside other journalists in front of a huge crowd of protesters behind her. She believes police were attempting to fire at protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjk55\">She said the projectile left “a little mark for a few days, it wasn’t anything serious at all.”</p></div>",
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