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{
"title": "Journalist among those detained in police ‘kettle’ while covering Echo Lake Park protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-among-those-detained-in-police-kettle-while-covering-echo-lake-park-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-05T18:59:13.101700Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:36.201682Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:36.039362Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p2wfx\">At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"kjxqy\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jpki\">According to The Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdznt\">An independent journalist, who asked to be identified only by the anonymized Twitter handle of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/\">@desertborder</a>, told the Tracker he was among those detained in the kettle for approximately two hours.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It's been awhile since the last time I was kettled. It sucks, in case anyone was wondering</p>— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/status/1375299615453409284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h8d34\">The journalist said that moments before police trapped the crowd in a kettle, the protesters had begun marching backward in unison, in apparent compliance with a police dispersal order given at around 7:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"sbno9\">“The crowd was actively retreating when all of a sudden the crowd broke and people started running,” @desertborder said. “I turned around and looked, and another line of riot cops had come up and blocked us in from behind. There was another side street that they were blocking too, so there was no exit at that point,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"efd9a\">@desertborder said that he stood on a sidewalk, to the side of the main body of protesters, as police began making individual arrests. He and other journalists stayed on the sidelines of the kettle, he said, “to avoid getting arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"shfvj\">“I showed an officer my press badge and I said, ‘Hey, I’m press, can I leave?’ And he told me, ‘No. Press was told to leave and you didn’t. You were given a lawful order and you didn’t comply. Now you’re under arrest too,’” the journalist said. “And I thought, ‘Ah hell, alright. I guess I’m going to jail tonight.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"0w2g0\">@desertborder said that while he continued filming the arrests, an officer pointed a crowd-control weapon directly at him and other members of the press. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a>, a reporter for digital news site L.A. Taco, captured the incident <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008\">on video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"j1cly\">“They came in to make an arrest over by the sidewalk,” the journalist said. “[The officer] was pointing a less-lethal shotgun [used to fire crowd-control munitions] a few inches from our faces and was just really angry and really aggressive, screaming ‘Get back!’ But there was nowhere for us to go, because there was a line of riot cops behind us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w1arp\">“I really thought he was going to blast us,” @desertborder said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbc0w\">About an hour later, he said, journalists standing on one edge of the kettle were told to join those on the opposite edge. @desertborder said he took that as a sign that police might be preparing to let them go without arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8ff3\">“An officer told us, ‘If you don’t have press credentials, just get off the sidewalk and get back with the rest of them,’” the journalist said, “obviously implying that you were going to be arrested if you didn’t have credentials.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">They moved all the press over to this corner. An officer told us if we don't have press credentials we "might as well go back over there" with the crowd of protesters getting arrested. LAPD policy, as handed down by Chief Moore himself, is that press does not need credentials</p>— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/desertborder/status/1375307977389789184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rayg6\">Shortly after 10 p.m., @desertborder said, the LAPD began allowing members of the press who had press passes to leave the kettle; he said he was able to show the officers his credentials, issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and was permitted to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"452tz\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"676b1\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"0jdss\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w59ky\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbzam\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ic9p\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"jol9k\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist charged with failure to disperse while reporting at Echo Park Lake demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-charged-with-failure-to-disperse-while-reporting-at-echo-park-lake-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:53:25.446920Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:12.503430Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:49:12.408488Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
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"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7ue1p\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"nakjd\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8w124\">According to The Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6fhqy\">Independent journalist and documentary producer Steven Gute told the Tracker that at around 7:15 p.m. he’d arrived at the north entrance of the park, where demonstrators had gathered for the second night in a row. LAPD officers had established a perimeter around the park and a crowd had gathered near the intersection of Park Avenue and Lemoyne Street, facing off with a line of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5l8v\">In footage Gute <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/stevegute/videos/10101799230859089\">posted to Facebook</a>, the crowd can be seen backing away from the officers in sync, chanting, “One! Two! One! Two!” Seconds later, an officer can be heard announcing, “You are all under arrest. You are no longer free to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lxuqh\">Gute told the Tracker that he did not hear officers give a dispersal warning or order members of the press to relocate to a media staging area.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhu61\">“While we were kettled and sandwiched together, officers started arresting people one by one,” Gute said. The video posted to Gute’s Facebook ends with a clip from another angle showing officers placing him under arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"wq1ps\">Gute told the Tracker he has credentials from the National Press Photographers Association but was not wearing them that night. He identified himself as press when officers approached him, he said, but they still arrested him.</p><p data-block-key=\"61cau\">“After they grabbed me, they put the flex cuffs on and we sat around for at least an hour and a half or two hours on the sidewalk waiting for the buses to come,” Gute said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ryyjy\">Gute said he was transported to the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Los Angeles, where he was processed and charged with failure to disperse, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000, according to California’s <a href=\"https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/409/#:~:text=Penal%20Code%20409%20PC%20is,fine%20of%20up%20to%20%241000.00.\">penal code</a>. Gute said he was released shortly after midnight.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfsjv\">Gute’s citation orders him to appear in court for a hearing on July 22 at 8 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l8fb\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lnfbq\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"g524r\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u403s\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnj63\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8q5t6\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"nr6g8\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:34:00+00:00) Charges dropped against independent journalist arrested while reporting at Echo Park Lake demonstration"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist detained, shoved while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-detained-shoved-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:46:43.871760Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:48:47.282361Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:48:47.184654Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4obsx\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"sta1k\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmao0\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0btwz\">Freelance photojournalist Joey Scott told the Tracker via email that he’d heard police give an order to disperse that night, telling legal observers and members of the press in particular to leave the area, but that he “stayed to do my job and document what was happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9x1qs\">Soon, though, he was trapped with protesters in the kettle. “I was shoved by a police officer who was setting up the skirmish line, pushing me back into the kettled group and not allowing me to leave,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"s2kd5\">Scott told the Tracker that he and other members of the media identified themselves as press to the police but were told that in order to leave the kettled area officers would need to speak to their supervisor, an effort that, according to Scott, “never happened.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j3nk0\">“We were detained for over two hours as they arrested people one by one,” Scott said. He posted multiple <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1375305994297729024\">videos</a> on Twitter showing police making arrests. Find all documented press freedom violations, including arrests, from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7akmc\">“Police used force arresting people and pointed shotguns with bean bag rounds at members of the press and protesters,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqnxo\">After roughly two hours, Scott said the press were told to show their credentials in order to leave the area. “I was told to leave the area and not to return unless I wanted to be arrested,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0piv\">After being released from the area, Scott said, members of the press were not able to talk to any police officials and requests for information were ignored.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7oog\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64box\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"yzew2\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ehitd\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7ien\">The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jx5jn\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Kollection EIC arrested while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kollection-eic-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T15:25:47.717553Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:47:24.097446Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nkigm\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tn1b\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"j3303\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"x13go\">Sean Edwards, editor-in-chief of <a href=\"https://thekollection.com/\">The Kollection</a>, an LA-based lifestyle brand with an editorial arm focused on music and youth culture, told the Tracker via email that he was caught in the kettle. “They began to arrest the crowd and press one by one,” he said. “They did not allow me and other members of independent press to identify ourselves.” He said he had his notebook and camera out, as well as photo identification with proof of employment and bylines at the Kollection.</p><p data-block-key=\"9m19i\">Shortly after 10 p.m., Edwards said LAPD arrested him, detaining him and other journalists at the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Central Los Angeles. He said he was booked for a 409 violation for, according to Edwards, “failure to disperse at the scene of an unlawful assembly” and charged with a misdemeanor. Edwards said officers released him around 1 a.m. on the 26th and returned his belongings to him. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"cal1v\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"http://twitter/\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fsh5b\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"pf14g\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"er8f8\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfkoq\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals inside the kettle were detained, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hsfx6\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ja0py\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"(2021-04-07 13:28:00+00:00) Charges dropped against Kollection EIC arrested while covering Echo Park protest"
],
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{
"title": "Independent photojournalist hit with rubber bullets while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-hit-with-rubber-bullets-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T14:59:32.018716Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:47:00.025131Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:59.946566Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5qhxk\">Independent photojournalist Christian Monterrosa told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was hit with rubber bullets fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March, 25, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"hw2t7\">Crowds had gathered at Echo Park Lake to demonstrate against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>. According to the Post, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., but before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"072v4\">Monterrosa told the Tracker he got caught in the police kettle. “I thought it was weird [that we were asked to leave] because press and National Lawyers Guild are the ones that stay until the end once the crowd has been dispersed and it’s how we’re able to report on these arrests,” he said. He said police cut off the alleyway where protesters were exiting and created a line of officers to rush the crowd. He said officers shoved demonstrators who were standing in front of him, pushing them into him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebu8d\">“I was able to get out, from luck,” Monterrosa said. He showed his LAPD-issued and National Press Photographers Association credentials to an officer, who let him and two other journalists leave the area after the commanding officer looked at the press badges.</p><p data-block-key=\"p5obe\">He told the Tracker he then moved one block north of the area to cover another skirmish between police and protesters. “There was a huge, huge presence of incoming police,” Monterrosa added. “I’ve never seen so many cops at any of the demonstrations I’ve been to in LA.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d6cvm\">He said the protesters started retreating after they saw the police coming, but the officers “heavily enforced dispersal [with] less than lethal weapons” and fired indiscriminately into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kv6o\">That was when he was hit by rubber bullets <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1375540498471944195?s=20\">in the abdomen</a> and right forearm, according to Monterrosa. “I was well aware of my rights and where I can and cannot be in these situations. I wasn’t engaging verbally,” Monterrosa, who also chair’s the NPPA’s west region, said. “All I had were my camera and helmet [and] was walking backwards.” He said he retreated to a safe area to apply bandages from his first aid kit.</p><p data-block-key=\"ofmps\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375289668346900480\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"63muu\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"potmd\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uesnm\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mmemb\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals inside the kettle were detained, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gckjn\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnhv9\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained and several assaulted while covering the protest, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christian Monterrosa (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "Independent photojournalist detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-30T14:06:34.009849Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:38.313214Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:38.220231Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jdtzs\">At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"iw1kh\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"136gq\">According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xc6hh\">Independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama said she was caught in the police kettle while she was live on her Instagram and taking photographs. “I was hit on the back with an officer’s baton,” she told the Tracker in an email. She said she was repeatedly shoved by an officer and asked to leave the area, but “there was literally no where to go” because she was stuck between the officers and the protesters. She said she had her National Press Photographers Association credentials, but the officer<a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1375351320119406595?s=20\"> kept shoving her</a> until some protesters pulled her away.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sm7d\">“We were first told that we were no longer free to leave and that we would be arrested. After explaining to some officers that we were press, they initially said, ‘It’s too late,’” Balderrama said. “At one point as they went to arrest a protester right next to me, they tackled him and he fell into me, [and] when I looked up, an LAPD officer was pointing a less than lethal weapon directly at my face at point blank range.”</p><p data-block-key=\"chh3i\">Balderrama tweeted a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1375475186955214850?s=20\"> video</a> of this arrest, in which she can be heard yelling, “We can’t go anywhere. There’s another line of you guys right there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oxjqq\">Balderrama said that even though her credentials were around her neck, she was told multiple times that she would be arrested. “They then moved us all and made press mix with protesters, which worried me greatly, that they would not even take the time to check my credentials.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2gw2d\">She told the Tracker that after being detained for two hours, she was allowed to leave. “As we walked out, they told us where the press viewing was, which was on the next block over, with absolutely no visibility of [the] incident,” she added.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwtf9\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375289668346900480\">issued a statement</a> on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zl6tb\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a>, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"adq7t\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement said. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s24ik\">The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"9sj3y\">The LAPD statement noted that as individuals were being detained inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vj1w4\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"m98px\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASMZ0.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ombcc\">Los Angeles police arrive on March 24, 2021, to begin the eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles. At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained the following day while covering protests against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ashley Balderrama (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "While documenting LA’s Echo Park protest, videographer arrested, charged with failure to disperse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/while-documenting-las-echo-park-protest-videographer-arrested-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T22:40:31.459897Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:14.883060Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:46:14.782177Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f4z7g\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy79b\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6j8w\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"isbrf\">Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was one of the journalists covering the demonstrations who became trapped with protesters in the police kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bmpi\">“At that point, my mindset was: I’m going to be arrested. I can either be arrested and do my job or be arrested and not do my job,” Beckner-Carmitchel said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypwjw\">In footage <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CM365X2gErq/\">posted to Instagram</a>, Beckner-Carmitchel narrates that the crowd has been kettled on Lemoyne Street between Sunset Boulevard and Park Avenue. He appears to be on a sidewalk as he films individuals standing in the street, who are arrested, one by one, by police. Approximately 38 minutes into the footage, officers approach Beckner-Carmitchel and ask that he come with them.</p><p data-block-key=\"imi7p\">As Beckner-Carmitchel agrees and hands his equipment to one of the officers, some who remain inside the kettle can be heard booing and shouting that he is a member of the press. Beckner-Carmitchel can be heard telling officers that he is wearing a press credential from the National Press Photographers Association, which advocates for visual journalists in print, broadcast and digital newsrooms as well as freelancers.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqz9o\">When asked what would happen next, an officer can be heard telling Beckner-Carmitchel that he will be transferred to a police bus that would take him to a “staging” area; once there, the officer says, Beckner-Carmitchel would be cited and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qm6p\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that before being loaded onto the bus, a public information officer who knows the journalist spoke with one of his arresting officers, but did not intervene to stop the arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"drmry\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally — who was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained that night</a> — <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375343567858638852\">tweeted</a> at midnight that Beckner-Carmitchel was still being held in police custody. In a subsequent tweet Queally said that the LAPD informed him that Beckner-Carmitchel was being held because the department “doesn’t recognize” the credentials he was wearing, and because he had not gone to a “media area” set up by police some distance away from the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Only information I could get out is that LAPD doesn't recognize Sean's NPPA credential and another complaint about him not being in the media pen. He's not answering my texts either. Unfortunately, this means he's probably still in custody. <a href=\"https://t.co/D1lQVQMz4p\">https://t.co/D1lQVQMz4p</a></p>— James Queally (@JamesQueallyLAT) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375356367293194241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"06n65\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that other journalists with NPPA credentials were released from the kettle without being arrested, and that, from the media staging area set up by police, it would have been impossible to see what was happening inside the kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"uu81o\">Beckner-Carmitchel later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1375358411445989376\">tweeted</a> that he had been released shortly after 1 a.m. on March 26 with a failure to disperse charge, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000, according to California’s<a href=\"https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/penal-code/409/#:~:text=Penal%20Code%20409%20PC%20is,fine%20of%20up%20to%20%241000.00.\"> penal code</a>. Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he was the last person to be released from the open booking area at the Metropolitan Detention Center where he was processed.</p><p data-block-key=\"xihrg\">His citation, which he shared with the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the Tracker, orders him to appear for a hearing on July 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"cx2m8\">“My frustration right now is I could be cutting together 45 hours of footage and doing a report about the people of Echo Park Lake and the activists involved over the past two days,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker. “Instead, I’m talking to lawyers and checking my Twitter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ud4op\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jcx3h\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, as Beckner-Carmitchel was being released, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted a statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"9a8dt\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1p3bh\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"emxxn\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g2tyo\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1ovs\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASOOD.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nuunj\">Los Angeles Police Department officers arrive at Echo Park Lake to evict homeless encampments on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were arrested or detained while documenting demonstrations against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
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"assailant": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:21:00+00:00) Charges dropped against videographer arrested while documenting Echo Park Lake protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter for Knock LA arrested with colleague while covering Echo Park protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T21:06:13.051259Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:49.196832Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:49.072208Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k50yy\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"ubzup\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"v5318\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t8e2h\">Kate Gallagher, who was reporting on the protest for the nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was covering the protest with her colleague <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/\">Jonathan Peltz</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"djwvc\">She said police made an announcement directing journalists and legal observers to disperse around 8 p.m., but she said the announcement was difficult to hear and she only learned about it on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ff01\">Gallagher said she was concerned about what police planned next for the protesters, so she decided to stay and continue reporting. Meanwhile, police had set up a pen for media several blocks away, but a number of other journalists also decided to stay at the scene of the protest, according to Peltz, the other Knock LA reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzlvz\">About 20 minutes later, Gallagher said, police started to form a kettle to detain the group. Gallagher and Peltz were standing with about a dozen other journalists at the time, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmjhq\">“No one really seemed very alarmed at first,” she said. According to Gallagher, journalists did not expect that police would arrest them because they were there covering the scene, not as part of the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"h6iqt\">She said that it became clear that journalists were also going to be arrested when one member of the press tried to leave the police kettle and was not allowed to go.</p><p data-block-key=\"oh1br\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476\">tweet</a> from the Knock LA Twitter account posted at 9:45 p.m. said that Peltz and Gallagher were arrested by the LAPD while they were covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Two of our reporters have been arrested at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/EchoParkRiseUp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EchoParkRiseUp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/T1zeBPm7Dw\">pic.twitter.com/T1zeBPm7Dw</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s0kx1\">The publication called for police to release the journalists immediately and demanded that any charges be dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2skv\">“Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job,” the statement reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"tvvlx\">Gallagher said that she identified herself as a journalist several times during her interactions with the police, including when police were forming the kettle, again when she was patted down during her arrest, and as she was loaded onto a bus to be transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"gtvfd\">Gallagher and Peltz were released from the detention center at around 12:30 a.m. March 26, she said, and she was ordered to appear in court on July 30 on a charge of failure to disperse.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UPDATE: Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher are free. Thank you to everyone who advocated for their release. <a href=\"https://t.co/wB0eiqiKcF\">pic.twitter.com/wB0eiqiKcF</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375352329537396737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qz9lw\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3xw7\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"hxc3p\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wsxyx\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"mjjmp\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7k13k\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4n6iq\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASN99.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"d6pkr\">Los Angeles Police Department officers arrive at Echo Park Lake to evict homeless encampments. Protests against the eviction on March 25, 2021 resulted in the arrests or detentions of at least 19 journalists while reporting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "2:22-cv-03106",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:11:00+00:00) Charges dropped against Knock LA reporter arrested with colleague while covering Echo Park protest in L.A.",
"(2022-05-09 15:37:00+00:00) Knock LA journalists sue Los Angeles Police Department following arrests in 2021"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kate Gallagher (Knock LA)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Spectrum News 1 reporter detained while covering protest at LA’s Echo Park",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-1-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-at-las-echo-park/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T20:33:29.615774Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:27.535253Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:45:27.441477Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0us7d\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jem2\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"glabh\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"85f9t\">Kate Cagle, an anchor and reporter for Spectrum News 1 SoCal, a local Los Angeles news channel, was among the journalists detained while she was covering the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ysbd\">Cagle posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375286960026087434\">on Twitter</a> at 8:22 p.m. that she was being held in the kettle at Echo Lake Park. A few minutes later, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375288888474824707\">posted</a> a video of protesters and police, explaining that the group was being held between two lines of police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"8wbaw\">At around 9 p.m. Cagle<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375297046941364226\"> tweeted</a> that an officer announced that everyone was being arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"csa50\">In a video Cagle later posted on Twitter, two officers are leading Cagle away from the camera. She can be heard saying, “Wait, I’m with Spectrum News 1!” and saying that she needs to stay with the members of her crew.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"Wait. I'm with Spectrum News 1."<br><br>"I have to stay with my crew."<br><br>This is the moment three LAPD officers pulled me from a crowd of protestors and zip tied my hands tonight at Echo Park Lake. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpecNews1SoCal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SpecNews1SoCal</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/jwSBFgpsSc\">pic.twitter.com/jwSBFgpsSc</a></p>— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375344934081884162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yb97v\">At 10:03 p.m., Cagle<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375312494042836997\"> posted</a> that she had been released.</p><p data-block-key=\"zefnv\">She wrote on Twitter that she identified herself as a Spectrum News 1 reporter and showed a press pass issued by Los Angeles County. She said she also texted her location to the LAPD public information officer, and her newsroom called a police supervisor.</p><p data-block-key=\"3xhi5\">“They still handcuffed me,” she wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just to be crystal clear - I identified myself as a reporter for Spectrum News 1 and showed my LA County press pass. <br><br>- I told the officers who corralled us<br>- texted LAPD’s PIO my location<br>- my newsroom called their supervisor<br><br>They still handcuffed me.</p>— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1375332495390953475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kknmv\">While she was detained in the kettle, Cagle posted on Twitter that she was with two freelance photographers who were live-streaming for Spectrum News 1. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has not been able to identify the two photojournalists, and Cagle did not respond to a request for comment. Efforts to reach newsroom leaders of Spectrum News 1 were not successful, but the channel’s news site confirmed in <a href=\"https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/homelessness/2021/03/26/lapd-declares-unlawful-assembly-at-echo-park\">an article</a> that Cagle had been detained and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"fp8hn\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q7t21\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"2wz6a\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xhlc7\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"17vem\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"suw05\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g9j9\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXATS8W.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4eaoy\">Protesters clash with Los Angeles Police Department officers during an eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in California on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were arrested or detained during the demonstrations.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
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"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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},
{
"title": "Knock LA reporter arrested while covering Echo Park protest, charged with failure to disperse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T19:42:04.148375Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:44:31.727621Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:44:31.623369Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c3k04\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqo0j\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0bmfb\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n0wlj\">Jonathan Peltz, a reporter for nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the protest with his colleague <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/\">Kate Gallagher</a>. Police made an announcement to disperse at around 7:45 p.m, but the message was inaudible to him and most of those present, Peltz said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jr99\">About 15 minutes later, an officer ordered members of the media and legal observers to disperse. The police designated a pen for media that was several blocks away, according to Peltz, but he said he wasn’t concerned because there were other journalists around him.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqgq0\">“From my perspective, you know, I was doing my job,” he said. “This was where the protest was happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fti6m\">Peltz said that protesters began to move up the street away from the police line when law enforcement moved in to “kettle” the group and began arresting people.</p><p data-block-key=\"6tmkm\">Peltz told the Tracker that he repeated to police that he and his colleague were journalists. He said he heard other people nearby say that they were press, too.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7cd1\">Peltz said he continued to record video of the confrontation until 8:35 p.m.; he said he noted the time on his camera just before officers restrained his wrists in zip-tie cuffs. He asked the officer who was recording his personal information what he was being charged with, but the officer did not know.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ytlv\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476\">tweet</a> from the Knock LA Twitter account posted at 9:45 p.m. said that Peltz and Gallagher were arrested by the LAPD while they were covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Two of our reporters have been arrested at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/EchoParkRiseUp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EchoParkRiseUp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/T1zeBPm7Dw\">pic.twitter.com/T1zeBPm7Dw</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375308023724265476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"472cx\">Knock LA called for police to release its journalists immediately, and demanded that any charges be dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"oaztr\">“Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job,” the statement reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"5foy5\">Peltz told the Tracker he again identified himself as a journalist to police as he was loaded onto a bus with other people who had been arrested. They were transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center, where he was processed. Peltz said his wrists were zip tied so tightly that his hands went numb.</p><p data-block-key=\"ga1dm\">He said he was released at around 12:30 a.m. on March 26 but was ordered to appear in court on July 30 on a charge of failure to disperse.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UPDATE: Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher are free. Thank you to everyone who advocated for their release. <a href=\"https://t.co/wB0eiqiKcF\">pic.twitter.com/wB0eiqiKcF</a></p>— Knock LA (@KNOCKdotLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KNOCKdotLA/status/1375352329537396737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gnu49\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bf7er\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v4pm\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2fbc8\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"f5uh8\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a3nxs\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tf66\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXASOVZ.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dnaze\">Los Angeles Police Department assemble near Echo Park Lake amid evictions of homeless encampments there on March 25, 2021. At least 19 journalists were arrested or detained while covering demonstrations against the evictions.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2021-03-26",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "2:22-cv-03106",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-07 13:03:00+00:00) Charges dropped against reporter for community news site Knock LA",
"(2022-05-09 15:35:00+00:00) Knock LA journalists sue Los Angeles Police Department following arrests in 2021"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jonathan Peltz (Knock LA)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "L.A. Taco reporter detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T19:22:15.691865Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-06T17:37:21.847612Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-06T17:37:21.716928Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7e2f0\">At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kkag\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gf7yl\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a17kg\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375336323779756033\">tweeted</a> that he and reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, who writes for the digital news site L.A. Taco, were standing next to each other inside the “kettle” as police faced off with protesters. Queally noted that just a week earlier, he had written <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/journalist-accused-lapd-assault-police-tried-to-have-him-prosecuted\">a story</a> for the Times about the “failure to disperse” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-receives-failure-to-disperse-charge-four-months-after-documenting-dodgers-celebrations/\">charges brought against Ray</a> by the LAPD months after he was covering another incident in downtown L.A.</p><p data-block-key=\"5nl9w\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487\">tweeted</a> that he and Queally were trying to stick together after the crowd was boxed in, and he posted footage he took as Queally was led away by officers and placed in zip-tie cuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"cva93\">Ray confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008\">continued filming</a> as officers arrested more individuals in the kettle — sometimes violently. In the footage, Ray can be heard saying, “Why are you pointing this [weapon] at me? I’m with the media,” as an officer trains his weapon on Ray’s chest and face.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD violently arresting a protestor earlier near Lemoyne and Park Ave. Dozens of protestors and media have been boxed in. Nobody is able to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/3hh6kOLERi\">pic.twitter.com/3hh6kOLERi</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375292448499499008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wtdze\">Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339116229849089\">tweeted</a> that after his arrest and release 30 minutes later, Ray called him and said that he was still detained in the kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"06e0j\">“I managed to get hold of an officer in media relations who rushed to do something about it,” Queally wrote. “I’m still worried he might have gotten arrested otherwise.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wo8jm\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375316638359154690\">tweeted</a> at around 10:30 p.m. that he had been released, along with other members of the press, without being formally arrested.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD has let me and a group of press go without detaining us. They made us all show our press passes to avoid arrest. I'm safe 🙏🏾 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/z1nuIuyUxI\">pic.twitter.com/z1nuIuyUxI</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375316638359154690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tmwrz\">“They held us there for more than an hour and then let people go if they had a press pass,” Ray told the Tracker. “Last year they said press could self-ID but I think they only let people go [that night] if they approved their press pass.”</p><p data-block-key=\"daqh8\">Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64thj\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sbda\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qgt13\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"einov\">About the media area, Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339961977696258\">tweeted</a>, “Media pens are deliberately setup to keep reporters AWAY from news. Tonight was no different. It was nowhere near the protests or action in the park.”</p><p data-block-key=\"699ro\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpbr7\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jpcw\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXATSD5.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cb9um\">Los Angeles Police Department officers detain protesters demonstrating against the closure of a homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were also arrested or detained.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lexis-Olivier Ray (L.A. Taco)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "LA Times reporter among multiple journalists detained while covering Echo Park protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-26T18:53:48.947090Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:43:39.241495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:43:39.141540Z",
"date": "2021-03-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gsbmq\">At least 13 or more journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"3un9c\">As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/26/los-angeles-arrests-echo-park/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"oy0ef\">Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">kettling</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o6919\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375336323779756033\">tweeted</a> that he and Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for the digital site L.A. Taco, were standing next to each other inside the “kettle” as police faced off with protesters. Queally noted that just a week earlier, he had written <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/journalist-accused-lapd-assault-police-tried-to-have-him-prosecuted\">a story</a> for the Times about the “failure to disperse” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-receives-failure-to-disperse-charge-four-months-after-documenting-dodgers-celebrations/\">charges brought against Ray</a> by the LAPD, months after Ray was covering another incident in downtown LA.</p><p data-block-key=\"amgss\">“We [Queally and Ray] were looking at each other, asking, ‘Is it going to happen again?’ and of course, it did,” Queally told The Post of the detainment.</p><p data-block-key=\"72l88\">Ray <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487\">captured the moment</a> around 8:30 p.m. when LAPD officers led Queally out of the kettle and placed him in zip-tie cuffs.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">L.A. Times crime reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JamesQueallyLAT</a> being taken into custody earlier. We all got boxed in. James and I were trying to stick together. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LATACO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LATACO</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/l6TWtXRjow\">pic.twitter.com/l6TWtXRjow</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1375293050679828487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cv7hw\">“I announced myself as press several times, and credit to the arresting officers, they checked my credential pretty quickly and got a supervisor,” Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375337667592740865\">tweeted</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5gpn\">Queally could not immediately be reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker for comment, but according to The Post, he was wearing an LAPD-issued press pass around his neck when he was arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"0rljk\">In his tweet thread, Queally wrote that the supervisor who was called in by the arresting officers “didn’t care I was press,” and told him, “this is the policy tonight.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dmu2t\">The Post reported that attorneys and a managing editor for the Times contacted Queally and secured his release after approximately 30 minutes, just as he was about to board a transport bus.</p><p data-block-key=\"zajnh\">Shortly after Queally’s arrest, the LAPD put out a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"twi5g\">At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ/status/1375357740885835777\">posted another statement</a> specifically addressing the detainment of members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"i1knx\">“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"h623s\">The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves to police and then move off to a designated media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"ql5g2\">About the media area, Queally <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JamesQueallyLAT/status/1375339961977696258\">tweeted</a>, “Media pens are deliberately setup to keep reporters AWAY from news. Tonight was no different. It was nowhere near the protests or action in the park.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hmmxf\">The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"udean\">The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to an emailed request from the Tracker for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"13hxg\">The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests from the protest and subsequent kettle in Echo Park <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cp0w3\">Los Angeles Police Department officers detain protesters demonstrating against the closure of a homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021. At least a dozen journalists were also arrested or detained.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"actor": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James Queally (Los Angeles Times)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist hit with police baton, lens damaged while covering Echo Park Lake protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-police-baton-lens-damaged-while-covering-echo-park-lake-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-07T14:42:14.209096Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:55:01.325647Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:55:01.213526Z",
"date": "2021-03-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rmcu6\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved by a police officer while reporting on a protest near Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, California on March 24, 2021, Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"r5vi3\">Protesters gathered near Echo Park Lake to demonstrate against the city’s plan to clear a homeless encampment, blocking Los Angeles Police Department officers from the park, <a href=\"https://laist.com/2021/03/24/echo_park_lake_homeless_community_on_park_closure.php\">LAist</a> reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7dlc\">In the evening protesters were trying to block police from putting up a barrier around the park, Berg told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnesa\">Berg, who reports for Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive, independent news outlet, said she was one of about a half dozen journalists between a line of police officers and protesters. She said she asked if she could move through to the other side of the police line, but an officer refused, telling her, “you’ve made your choice.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zgkyo\">Berg, who was filming using a video camera with a light attachment, said that police were objecting to journalists’ use of camera lights, saying that they were trying to blind the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"oaniz\">In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxgKOCb5jgU\">video</a> published by Status Coup on YouTube, officers multiple times ask people, including Berg, to turn off their camera lights. Berg can be heard refusing, at times confrontationally.</p><p data-block-key=\"fukzx\">In one clip multiple people with cameras can be seen near an officer, who says, “Turn off that light please.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4p4b4\">“I’m not turning off my light, dude, it is necessary for my job,” Berg can be heard saying.</p><p data-block-key=\"v89f5\">In another clip, an officer can be heard saying “Leave the area, ma’am.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5h9c\">The video then shows the top of another officer’s helmet, abruptly shakes, and Berg can be heard saying “no!”</p><p data-block-key=\"ybhma\">Berg told the Tracker that’s when an officer hit her camera lens with a baton, then jabbed her in the abdomen with the baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"w2u87\">Berg told the Tracker she was wearing a Kevlar vest and was not hurt by the baton. The blow to her camera lens cracked the outer casing of the lens, she said. The interior of the lens was not damaged and it is still usable, she said, though she has not gotten the casing repaired.</p><p data-block-key=\"orqpj\">Berg said she was wearing multiple press credentials on a lanyard around her neck, including one issued by the Los Angeles Press Club and another that identified her as a journalist for Status Coup.</p><p data-block-key=\"dwkpd\">LAPD spokesperson Raul Jovel said the department opened an investigation into the incident after the Tracker reached out to the department for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"iy3wo\">At a protest in Echo Lake Park the following day, March 25, at least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-24&date_upper=2021-03-25&city=Los+Angeles&endpage=3\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "The Daily Mail blocked from media center, trial exhibits in Chauvin trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/the-daily-mail-blocked-from-media-center-trial-exhibits-in-chauvin-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-14T18:50:35.472467Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:24:55.043265Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:24:54.963210Z",
"date": "2021-03-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sy638\">A Minnesota judge on March 24, 2021, denied media credentials to the British newspaper the Daily Mail to cover the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.</p><p data-block-key=\"15tfz\">Hennepin County Chief Judge Toddrick Barnette issued <a href=\"https://mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12646/Order03242021.pdf\">the order</a> five days before the beginning of the trial, in which Chauvin is facing murder and manslaughter charges in the death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"aoxor\">The order denied journalists from the Daily Mail access to a media center set up in a building across the street from the courthouse for members of the press covering the trial, <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-denies-daily-mail-credential-officers-trial-76664156;%20\">The Associated Press</a> reported. Media outlets are sharing two pool seats in the courtroom, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"8d4kz\">Barnette’s order also barred the publication from directly accessing trial exhibits and “all media updates related to the trial.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wh7fb\">The judge wrote that his decision was based on the Daily Mail’s publication on Aug. 3 of footage from body cameras worn by two other Minneapolis police officers who were present at the time of Floyd’s arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"aceej\">The footage was introduced in court in July 2020 as part of pre-trial litigation. Due to the massive amount of public attention on the case and the need “to minimize the effects of judicial pretrial publicity,” a judge had limited the distribution of the footage, Barnette wrote. Under rules set for the body camera footage, members of the media and the public could view it by appointment at a Hennepin County government building, but could not record it or republish it.</p><p data-block-key=\"pskfa\">Barnette wrote in his order that an investigation determined the video footage was stolen around the time the public could view it. He said that though it was not clear that the Daily Mail stole the footage, it was the first outlet to publish it.</p><p data-block-key=\"toh5f\">Though the media plays an important role in the criminal justice system, Barnette wrote, “in situations where a Court Order has been violated and a media outlet knowingly exploits the violation by publishing stolen records of court exhibits, the Court is required to pursue an equitable consequence.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pcdxh\">Barnette noted in the order that the Daily Mail could still access exhibits from other media outlets. He said he assumed that the publication paid for the body camera footage and that he was “confident” it would be able to pay for other material that came out during the trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"cajwk\">“This is not a hardship for the Daily Mail, it is merely an inconvenience,” Barnette wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4fzi\">The Daily Mail did not respond to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"mlyhy\">The Daily Mail appealed the order to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on March 26, arguing that the denial of credentials was a violation of the First Amendment, the<a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/daily-mail-seeks-to-reverse-order-denying-trial-credentials/600039171/?refresh=true\"> AP reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ju574\">Mark Anfinson, local counsel for the Daily Mail, wrote in the petition that the video was “almost certainly not ‘stolen’” and that the newspaper had no role in copying the video, according to the AP. The Daily Mail said it was “leaked a copy of the video from a third party source not associated with the court.”</p><p data-block-key=\"91xcs\">On April 5, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/press-releases/aclu-mn-pushes-press-freedom-chauvin-trial\">filed a letter</a> in support of the Daily Mail’s appeal. The ACLU argued that there is no evidence that the newspaper played a role in copying the video footage, and asserted that the decision in the case will have implications for others who cover court trials in Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jcwo\">In an <a href=\"https://macsnc.courts.state.mn.us/ctrack/view/publicCaseMaintenance.do?csNameID=97685&csInstanceID=112457\">order</a> issued April 6, the appeals court rejected the Daily Mail’s request to throw out Barnette’s order.</p><p data-block-key=\"oglfn\">The court ruled that a writ of prohibition was not appropriate because the Daily Mail had not pursued all other options. The judges also wrote that the newspaper did not demonstrate injury, given that live video and audio of the proceedings are available online and trial materials are widely available.</p><p data-block-key=\"kzrcw\">Anfinson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on April 9 that the newspaper had not yet decided whether to take further steps.</p><p data-block-key=\"exi3h\">He rejected the judges’ assertion that the Daily Mail did not pursue other avenues to resolve the issue before asking the appeals court to overturn Barnette’s order.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn9bv\">“It's ludicrous to suggest that we had other options here,” Anfinson said. “We didn't. He issued a formal court order, restricting public access to documents that are public to one news organization. It's a clear cut violation of the First Amendment.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"afm5q\">Hennepin County Government Center is the trial site of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is facing murder charges in the 2020 death of George Floyd.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Daily Mail"
],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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],
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Arson attack forces California TV station KGET TV 17 to take the news off-air",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/arson-attack-forces-california-tv-station-kget-tv-17-to-take-the-news-off-air/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-04T15:15:36.850163Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-05T18:29:19.355733Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-05T18:29:19.300817Z",
"date": "2021-03-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Bakersfield",
"longitude": -119.01871,
"latitude": 35.37329,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"voer0\">An arson attack forced the KGET TV 17 news team in Bakersfield, California, to take its 11 p.m. newscast off the air and evacuate the building, on March 21, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"eh55i\">A KGET journalist reported on the attack as it happened saying there was “a scary and bizarre scene, right beneath our studio.” There was “a car bursting into flames as wooden crosses lined our back parking lot,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsihw\">The fire was close to the TV station and a car was found on fire outside the parking lot gates of the KGET building on L Street. The sounds of explosions were reported to the police department, which sent its bomb squad.</p><p data-block-key=\"2947h\">A <a href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/car-fire-outside-kget-studios-forces-evacuation/\">KGET website report</a> said there was “an intense fire, with flames shooting as high as 20 feet into the air.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q7oqc\">Thirteen<a href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/car-fire-outside-kget-studios-forces-evacuation/\"> wooden crosses</a> about 5 to 7 ft tall had been left outside the gates, close to the fire. Two of them were draped with what appeared to be wedding dresses, a third with a man’s suit jacket, KGET reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"mb5k0\">Michael Trihey, news director at KGET, the NBC affiliate in Bakersfield and Kern County, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: “It happened during the 11 o'clock newscast on a weekend. We have a roof camera that we use for city views and things of that nature. And we can see on that roof camera, a fire adjacent to the building, which perhaps threatens the building.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rkp8p\">Trihey said the police advised KGET staff to evacuate the building, forcing them to cut the newscast short by 15 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"v68lj\">“Responding officers heard several loud explosions when arriving, which was later determined to be associated with the combustion of normal vehicle equipment (no explosive or incendiary device) was located,” said Bakersfield Police Department spokesman Sgt. Robert Pair. “There was no damage to the studio building. I can confirm the existence of white crosses, a wedding dress and suit jacket.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xoomh\">A woman was arrested for charges associated with arson after she turned herself in at the Kern County Jail, according to the police. She pleaded not guilty to two charges in connection with the fire, possession of material or device used for arson and burning of combustible material in an unsafe manner when she appeared in a Bakersfield court in April, <a href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-setting-fire-outside-kget-studios/amp/\">KGET reported</a>.</p></div>",
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},
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{
"title": "Dakota Pipeline operator subpoenas Unicorn Riot reporter over coverage of demonstrations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dakota-pipeline-operator-subpoenas-unicorn-riot-reporter-over-coverage-of-demonstrations/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-10T15:55:43.847628Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-13T16:11:23.798788Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-13T16:11:23.686520Z",
"date": "2021-03-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bsrl1\">Unicorn Riot and its reporter Niko Georgiades were subpoenaed on March 17, 2021, by Energy Transfer LP, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, for all documents and communications relating to the nonprofit media organization’s coverage of the pipeline project.</p><p data-block-key=\"o8ij0\">The subpoenas are part of the pipeline company’s legal effort against several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and activists that protested against the pipeline in 2016 and 2017, according to <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2021/04/03/unicorn-riot-dakota-pipeline-energy-transfer-subpoena/\">The Intercept</a> and other outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dklrt\"><a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20521079-subpoena_energytransfer_unicornriot_redacted\">Energy Transfer demanded all documents</a> including video and audio recordings concerning both actual and planned demonstrations relating to DAPL or Energy Transfer on several specific dates in August through November of 2016, in addition to information about the organization's structure and employees. Unicorn Riot’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dakota-pipeline-operator-subpoenas-unicorn-riot-over-coverage-of-demonstrations/\">subpoena is documented here</a>. Georgiades, a Unicorn Riot reporter who covered events at Standing Rock, was separately served a<a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20521080-subpoena_energytransfer_ng_redacted\"> subpoena</a> for similar materials.</p><p data-block-key=\"j9liz\">Greenpeace labeled the company’s legal effort a SLAPP suit, which stands for a strategic lawsuit against public participation, designed to silence critics, The Intercept reported. <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2021/04/cpj-calls-on-energy-transfer-to-drop-subpoenas-to-unicorn-riot-journalist-niko-georgiades/\">The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on</a> Energy Transfer to withdraw the subpoenas. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"spqa2\">Energy Transfer didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment from the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"g2thv\">Freddy Martinez, a member of the Unicorn Riot collective, told the Tracker that its media attorney responded to both subpoenas with a letter invoking their shield privilege, saying “the records that may or may not exist are covered by the law and that we [Unicorn Riot] are not a party to their litigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0brp8\">“Our counsel met with their counsel and Energy Transfer expressed continued interest in furthering their subpoena,” Martinez added. “However, as far as we know, they haven’t filed anything in court and may be running out of time to do so.”</p><p data-block-key=\"h6hcp\">On March 24, 2021, Unicorn Riot launched a legal defense fund to help cover its legal bills, saying it takes seriously its obligation to protect its sources and not yield to demands for its footage and records from companies or the government.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3uxjk\">A protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota in November 2016. The pipeline operator subpoenaed reporter Niko Georgiades in March 2021 for materials gathered during his coverage of the protests.</p>",
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"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-12-16 13:38:00+00:00) Judge quashes subpoena for Unicorn Riot reporter’s documents related to 2016-2017 DAPL protests",
"(2023-09-27 00:00:00+00:00) Dakota Pipeline operator appeals decision quashing subpoena for reporter’s documents",
"(2024-05-06 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court confirms that pipeline operator cannot subpoena reporter’s documents"
],
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"protest"
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"categories": [
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],
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"Niko Georgiades (Unicorn Riot)"
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"quashed"
],
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},
{
"title": "Dakota Pipeline operator subpoenas Unicorn Riot over coverage of demonstrations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dakota-pipeline-operator-subpoenas-unicorn-riot-over-coverage-of-demonstrations/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-10T15:49:47.619480Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-13T16:14:45.602885Z",
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"date": "2021-03-17",
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"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"84n8t\">Unicorn Riot and its reporter Niko Georgiades were subpoenaed on March 17, 2021, by Energy Transfer LP, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, for all documents and communications relating to the nonprofit media organization’s coverage of the pipeline project.</p><p data-block-key=\"aozbd\">The subpoenas are part of the pipeline company’s legal effort against several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and activists that protested against the pipeline in 2016 and 2017, according to <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2021/04/03/unicorn-riot-dakota-pipeline-energy-transfer-subpoena/\">The Intercept</a> and other outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"lstcl\"><a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20521079-subpoena_energytransfer_unicornriot_redacted\">Energy Transfer demanded all documents</a> including video and audio recordings concerning both actual and planned demonstrations relating to DAPL or Energy Transfer on several specific dates in August through November of 2016, in addition to information about the organization's structure and employees. Georgiades, a Unicorn Riot reporter who covered events at Standing Rock, was separately served a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20521080-subpoena_energytransfer_ng_redacted\">subpoena</a> for similar materials. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dakota-pipeline-operator-subpoenas-unicorn-riot-reporter-over-coverage-of-demonstrations/\">His subpoena is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0b3l\">Greenpeace labeled the company’s legal effort a SLAPP suit, which stands for a strategic lawsuit against public participation, designed to silence critics, The Intercept reported. <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2021/04/cpj-calls-on-energy-transfer-to-drop-subpoenas-to-unicorn-riot-journalist-niko-georgiades/\">The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on</a> Energy Transfer to withdraw the subpoenas. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"h20dd\">Energy Transfer didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment from the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hb92i\">Freddy Martinez, a member of the Unicorn Riot collective, told the Tracker that its media attorney responded to both subpoenas with a letter invoking their shield privilege, saying “the records that may or may not exist are covered by the law and that we [Unicorn Riot] are not a party to their litigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6dnio\">“Our counsel met with their counsel and Energy Transfer expressed continued interest in furthering their subpoena,” Martinez added. “However, as far as we know, they haven’t filed anything in court and may be running out of time to do so.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pr63a\">On March 24, 2021, Unicorn Riot launched a legal defense fund to help cover its legal bills, saying it takes seriously its obligation to protect its sources and not yield to demands for its footage and records from companies or the government.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"g29fe\">A protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Saint Anthony, North Dakota, in October 2016. Pipeline operator Energy Transfer subpoenaed Unicorn Riot and its reporter in March 2021 for materials gathered during its coverage of the 2016 protests.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-12-16 14:00:00+00:00) Judge quashes subpoena for Unicorn Riot documents related to 2016-2017 DAPL protests",
"(2023-09-27 00:00:00+00:00) Dakota Pipeline operator appeals decision quashing subpoena for Unicorn Riot documents",
"(2024-05-06 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court agrees that pipeline operator cannot subpoena nonprofit’s documents"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Unicorn Riot"
],
"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved by police during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-by-police-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-19T19:32:10.663169Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:53:23.309851Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:53:23.221772Z",
"date": "2021-03-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p676b\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved by a police officer while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on March 13, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0dbg\">Protesters<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-13/los-angeles-police-and-protesters-clash-in-hollywood\"> had gathered in Hollywood</a> to mark the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, in Louisville, Kentucky. The protest was one in a surge of demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have been held since May 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Antifa march through Hollywood for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreonnaTaylor</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/kVVZtPKM6R\">pic.twitter.com/kVVZtPKM6R</a></p>— Notorious Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1370959478317666304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3kitf\">Los Angeles Police Department officers and protesters engaged in a tense standoff at the intersection of Vine Street and Lexington Avenue at approximately 9:30 p.m., the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-13/los-angeles-police-and-protesters-clash-in-hollywood\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jkgbh\">Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had caught up to the crowd as individuals began throwing water bottles and other objects toward police and the officers were pushing the crowd back in response.</p><p data-block-key=\"2xhhx\">“As I was filming this, one of the officers came up to me and started pushing and shoving me down,” Berg said. “One of the activists — I don’t know her name — said to the LAPD officer, ‘Stop pushing her, she’s press, she’s not one of us, she’s press.’ Next thing I know they’ve jumped on this protester and pinned her to the ground and they arrested her for this.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sg9sr\">Berg continued to try to film the arrest near the northeast corner of the intersection, according to footage she <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_a_dxNbzAI\">published</a> with the online outlet Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive media company. A second officer approached her and other members of the press. In the footage, the officer can be heard saying, “You are interfering with our ability to see what is going on. Can you please back up a few feet.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hpl05\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1371030853132808195\">a clip</a> captured by independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a different LAPD officer can be seen shoving someone — identified by Beckner-Carmitchel as Berg — backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"put3w\">Immediately after, an individual can be heard asking the officer, “What’s your problem?” The officer responds, “Don’t put the light in my face!”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Another instance of shoving. It appears as though an officer shoved <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TinaDesireeBerg</a> over her camera light:<br><br>Also: I don’t have a great angle of this but this was after a police officer kicked an air conditioner into the crowd of journos.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@uspresstracker</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/iBW11F1BFS\">pic.twitter.com/iBW11F1BFS</a></p>— Sean Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1371030853132808195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oub9b\">Berg confirmed to the Tracker that the officer had pushed her, adding she has footage of the officer’s hand coming at her camera lens. She added that she often has found officers to be more hostile to the press when the journalists are filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"8dk6c\">At a protest <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-police-baton-lens-damaged-while-covering-echo-park-lake-protest/\">10 days later</a>, another LAPD officer confronted Berg about the light on her camera and then struck her camera lens and then jabbed her in the abdomen with a baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"did30\">Berg said she was wearing press credentials on a lanyard around her neck, including one issued by the Los Angeles Press Club and another that identified her as a journalist for Status Coup.</p><p data-block-key=\"cumv2\">The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tina-Desiree Berg (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Law enforcement agencies photograph journalists and their IDs as they cover protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/law-enforcement-agencies-photograph-journalists-and-their-ids-as-they-cover-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-14T12:41:42.112840Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-09T20:53:43.337062Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-09T20:53:43.216232Z",
"date": "2021-03-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"95w4t\">During the spring of 2021, at least 31 journalists covering protests in two cities had their faces, IDs or press credentials photographed by law enforcement agencies, according to accounts from the media and the journalists involved. Those photographed were covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon. Law enforcement agencies in both cities did not disclose why they documented the identities of the journalists or what was done with the images they captured.</p><p data-block-key=\"g8rr0\"><b>Portland</b></p><p data-block-key=\"a8hjh\">On March 12, the Portland Police Bureau detained more than 100 protesters and at least six journalists by surrounding them using a “kettle” maneuver in the city’s downtown Pearl District. After initially detaining the crowd, police ordered members of the press to leave the kettle, despite a <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/10/journalists-legal-observers-remain-exempt-from-federal-dispersal-orders-while-feds-appeal-injunction-appeals-court-rules.html?utm_campaign=oregonian_sf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social\">court order</a> prohibiting Portland officers from dispersing media and legal observers who are monitoring protests. Six journalists who were ordered to leave the kettle said that officers required them to show a government-issued ID and be photographed before their release. Some specified that police took photos of them without masks and with strips of duct tape across their chests on which police had written the journalists’ names and dates of birth.</p><p data-block-key=\"v1pg7\">Photojournalist <b>Maranie Rae Staab</b>, who has freelanced for The Washington Post and The New York Times, posted footage of her forced removal from the kettle.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was just forcibly removed from the scene by several <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PortlandPolice</a> ofcrs. <br><br>I am a credentialed member of the press & made clear I wantd to stay & report. <br><br>I was dragged out, labeled w/tape & photographed.<br><br>This was a deliberate action to prevent accountability. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/zfF32oW0vY\">pic.twitter.com/zfF32oW0vY</a></p>— Maranie R. Staab (@MaranieRae) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1370645525691703296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gllxf\">“I’m a member of the press,” Staab is heard explaining as three PPB officers tell her they’ve asked the press to leave. “It’s my job. I am a member of the press. I want to report, I do not want to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dre74\">Officers then proceed to escort her out despite her protestations, and an officer can be heard saying, “You have to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j89nv\">Independent journalist <b>Adam Costello</b>, who was covering the same Portland protest, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AdamnCostelloTV/status/1370691809031069697\">wrote on Twitter</a> that officers pulled him out of the kettle and ordered him to identify himself and tell them his date of birth.</p><p data-block-key=\"k793b\">“They wrote it on a piece of duct tape and took a picture of me,” wrote Costello, who publishes to social media and the online publishing platform <a href=\"https://medium.com/@AdamnCostello/mutual-aid-is-shaping-a-new-future-for-portland-143ac4d6444\">Medium</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0zni9\">Freelance journalist <b>Laura Jedeed</b>, whose work has been published by Salon and Willamette Week, among others, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370649465648947203\">reported</a> a similar experience of being photographed before officers ejected her.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Update: I have been escorted out of the kettle<br><br>They put my name and DOB on a piece of duct tape and took a picture of me without my mask on<br><br>Then they escorted me out past the police line</p>— Laura Jedeed, Non-Fungible (@LauraJedeed) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370649465648947203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"07mej\">“The cop told me if I committed criminal activity I would be arrested and I laughed,” Jedeed wrote in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1370649466949173252\">subsequent tweet</a>. “He asked me why I didn’t leave with the rest of the press and I said I wanted to document. Then he let me go.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mt3qk\">Similar experiences were reported by freelance journalists <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlissaAzar/status/1370605786922020868\"><b>Alissa Azar</b></a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1370605669678604290\"><b>Garrison Davis</b></a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1370628730473775106\"><b>Suzette Smith</b></a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvk46\">Oregon Public Broadcasting <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/13/portland-police-protests-kettle-protesters\">reported</a> that the journalists removed from the kettle were escorted more than a block away, where they could no longer see what was happening inside the kettle. According to OPB’s story, bureau spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen said that journalists were not forced to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"fizdn\">“PPB did not ‘remove’ the press,” Allen said. “Legal observers, press, and medically fragile individuals were all offered a chance to leave if they wished as they were not being detained. Those that stayed were escorted out one by one.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ouar\">Allen did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment about the law enforcement actions to identify and photograph journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"r45q7\"><b>Brooklyn Center</b></p><p data-block-key=\"8vjiy\">At least 25 journalists covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, reported having their faces, press credentials and government-issued IDs photographed by local and state law enforcement during a period of several days of public demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"41t7v\">The demonstrations began after the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center on April 11, which occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of George Floyd. The events rekindled a nationwide wave of racial justice protests that began almost a year earlier after Floyd’s death. In Brooklyn Center, protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/brooklyn-center-minnesota-police-shooting.html\">began outside the police department</a> the day Wright was killed and continued daily through mid-April.</p><p data-block-key=\"8xl31\">One of the first journalists to report law enforcement actions to record reporters’ identities was <b>Sloane Martin</b>, a reporter for Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO. On April 14, Martin<a href=\"https://twitter.com/SloaneMartin/status/1382559823368232962\"> posted on Twitter</a> that law enforcement officers took photographs of her press credential and her identification while she was covering demonstrations that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3gbf\">Martin wrote that she was in a gas station trying to return to her car, and she shouted “Press!” to a line of officers from a distance to identify herself. An officer whom she believes was a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shouted at her to get on her knees, but another officer directed her to come over and show her ID, she wrote. Martin didn’t respond to requests for comment.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was not asked to the ground but they did the same thing: took pictures of my credential and ID. I was in a brightly-lit gas station, otherwise I would have been nervous to approach the line of law enforcement trying to get back to my car. I shouted “press” from a distance <a href=\"https://t.co/TVZneIXL1D\">https://t.co/TVZneIXL1D</a></p>— Sloane Martin (@SloaneMartin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SloaneMartin/status/1382559823368232962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"okdgp\">Martin’s tweet was in response to a clip posted by Fox News reporter Lauren Blanchard, who, on the same night of April 14, was ordered to the ground and detained by police alongside her news crew. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/?categories=4&city=Brooklyn%20Center&date_lower=2021-04-14&date_upper=2021-04-14\">At least six journalists</a> who were detained or arrested while covering demonstrations that night had their faces and identification photographed before they were released:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"756ys\"><b>Lauren Blanchard</b>, Fox News national correspondent</li><li data-block-key=\"fvd0u\"><b>Les Baker</b>, Fox News national photojournalist</li><li data-block-key=\"ohkwn\"><b>Naasir Akailvi</b>, The Neighborhood Reporter journalist</li><li data-block-key=\"aqcn1\"><b>Nick Rojas</b>, Fox News national producer</li><li data-block-key=\"oynfn\"><b>Niko Georgiades</b>, Unicorn Riot journalist</li><li data-block-key=\"evqtz\"><b>Tracy Gunapalan</b>, The Neighborhood Reporter journalist</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"amlit\">Two days later on April 16, Minnesota District Judge Wilhelmina Wright granted a motion for a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-mn.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/goyette_tro_granted.pdf\">temporary restraining order</a> barring all local law enforcement agencies from arresting, threatening to arrest, using physical force against or seizing the equipment of journalists documenting the demonstrations. That same day, law enforcement surrounded a crowd that included members of the press in a “kettle” and established a “media checkpoint” where journalists had their faces, press passes and IDs photographed before they were permitted to leave the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"7gz3w\">ACLU of Minnesota’s Legal Director Teresa Nelson <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20618245-letter-to-judge-wright-journalists-covering-minnesota-protests\">sent a letter</a> to Wright on April 17, condemning the actions of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner and the Minnesota State Patrol, which are defendants in a suit brought by the organization. The letter reads, in part: “Last night, hours after the TRO [temporary restraining order] took effect, the State Defendants escalated the level of assault and harassment of journalists to an intolerable degree.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n6mve\">According to the letter, freelance photojournalists <b>Chris Juhn</b> and <b>Chris Tuite</b>, who were covering protests the day the court order was issued, both were ordered to go to the checkpoint. Tuite said he was also roughly grabbed by officers with enough force to rip his shirt, which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-threatened-assaulted-by-minnesota-state-patrol-while-covering-brooklyn-center-protest/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"227al\">“To get out of their kettle, we had to take off our gas masks and helmets and hand them our media passes and IDs. They took photos of our faces up close and then of our IDs and media passes,” Tuite said. “They told us nothing of what they were going to do with the photos, and they essentially brushed it off as, ‘We just want to make sure you guys are legit.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"5xual\">Minneapolis Star Tribune reporters <b>Susan Du</b> and <b>Liz Sawyer</b> were also directed to the April 16 checkpoint which was set up at a nearby Pump n’ Munch gas station, according to footage Sawyer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bylizsawyer/status/1383260779084861444?lang=en\">posted to Twitter</a> that night.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s a photo of me filming members of State Patrol process my colleagues, including <a href=\"https://twitter.com/shijundu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@shijundu</a>. Our credentials are huge.<br>📸 by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/benjovland?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@benjovland</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/HBwWfbkcyA\">pic.twitter.com/HBwWfbkcyA</a></p>— Liz Sawyer (@ByLizSawyer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByLizSawyer/status/1383448556011286529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tqj28\">A student journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Tracker she was separated from a group of other student journalists reporting at the protest and found herself in the kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"strul\">“As people either escaped or were arrested around me, I ended up alone on the completely cleared-out block on Humboldt,” she said. “I approached some state troopers holding out my press pass who yelled at me to join a group of reporters who had already been detained in front of a gas station.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ypmlv\">Both Du and Sawyer were among the journalists in the group the student was directed to join, and she, too, had her face and forms of identification photographed.</p><p data-block-key=\"fubmw\">“I have no idea what they are using those photos for, we were not told, but I obviously found that disturbing and a violation of our rights as reporters,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n63t6\">Three AFP journalists — photographer <b>Chandan Khanna</b>, videographer <b>Eléonore Sens</b> and reporter <b>Robin Legrand</b> — were <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EleonoreSens/status/1383293566265348101\">pepper sprayed</a> by Minnesota State Patrol troopers and then ordered to pass through the media checkpoint as well, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EleonoreSens/status/1383308927069167620\">footage</a> Sens posted to Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"amldi\">Khanna, who is an Indian citizen, told the Tracker that when he showed his ID to law enforcement at the checkpoint, the officer asked to see his passport. Khanna said he didn’t have his passport with him, but the officer pressed him for it. When Khanna pulled up a photo of his passport from an online folder, the officer photographed it and asked to see Khanna’s visa, photographing it as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"citsc\">Khanna said he is worried about what will happen with the photographs and wonders what the officer will do with the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"6kf68\">“It's my privacy, my information. Why will I share my information with anybody?” Khanna said.</p><p data-block-key=\"hkead\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/?categories=4&city=Brooklyn%20Center&date_lower=2021-04-16&date_upper=2021-04-16\">At least 10 journalists</a> were ordered to get on the ground or kettled prior to having their credentials and IDs photographed on April 16, which the Tracker classifies as detainments. These journalists include:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"fcgvt\"><b>Aaron Nesheim</b>, freelance photojournalist on assignment for The New York Times</li><li data-block-key=\"kpesd\"><b>Alex Kent</b>, independent photojournalist</li><li data-block-key=\"awfxn\"><b>Babs Santos</b>, Fox 9 News correspondent</li><li data-block-key=\"5qfqo\"><b>J.D. Duggan</b>, freelance journalist</li><li data-block-key=\"cns2a\"><b>Jasper Colt</b>, USA Today photojournalist</li><li data-block-key=\"5x627\"><b>Joshua Rashaad McFadden</b>, freelance photojournalist on assignment for The New York Times</li><li data-block-key=\"6fz6p\"><b>Leah Millis</b>, Reuters photojournalist</li><li data-block-key=\"1j5rw\"><b>Liz Flores</b>, Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist</li><li data-block-key=\"srvp2\"><b>Reg Chapman</b>, WCCO reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"7umhl\"><b>Renee Jones Schneider</b>, Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"jma1k\">According to a statement from the Minnesota State Patrol, troopers photographed journalists and their credentials “in order to expedite the identification process,” and the journalists were allowed to continue reporting after being identified. While some of the journalists confirmed to the Tracker that they were able to resume covering the protests, some left the area immediately. Those that remained said they were directed to a media staging area more than a block away from the kettle, which made it impossible to document police activities.</p><p data-block-key=\"9aqly\">The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, signed a letter to Gov. Tim Walz and the heads of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota State Patrol and Minnesota Department of Corrections detailing what it said were violations of the TRO, as well as the concerns of more than a dozen press freedom and media organizations. Among the concerns was that the images might be entered into a facial recognition service such as Clearview AI, which has been used by both the Minneapolis Police Department and the <a href=\"https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/investigations/Pages/mnfc.aspx?utm_campaign=04_25_2021&utm_medium=email&utm_source=tpfp_newsletter&utm_content=minnesota_fusion_center_about_page\">Minnesota Fusion Center</a> to monitor and target individuals, including protesters, <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/tech-press-freedom-april-25-2021/\">according to RCFP</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"g54se\">“Whatever the intent behind this ‘cataloging’ of journalists, it was deeply disturbing for those involved, and it has caused much fear regarding what use might be made of these photographs and accompanying identifying information in the future, including full names, dates of birth and home addresses,” the letter reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"cfc9t\">“We hope that any photos that were improperly taken will be expunged rather than stashed away in a law enforcement database,” RCFP <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/tech-press-freedom-april-25-2021/\">said</a> in a post about the violations.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qo6r\">On April 17, Walz <a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/gov-tim-walz-calls-assault-detention-of-journalists-covering-protests-unacceptable/600047293/?utm_campaign=04_25_2021&utm_medium=email&utm_source=tpfp_newsletter&utm_content=star_tribune_article\">told the Minneapolis Star Tribune</a> that law enforcement officers would no longer photograph journalists’ faces and credentials, noting it “created a pretty Orwellian picture.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9eg2b\">Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell also noted that the photographs were “a misstep on our part,” the Star Tribune reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"rress\">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=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=111\">here</a>. To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/frequently-asked-questions/\">pressfreedomtracker.us</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cjfwm\">“Here’s a photo of the officer taking my photo,” journalist Suzette Smith tweeted. While covering a Portland protest, Smith became one of at least 30 journalists photographed by law enforcement at protests.</p>",
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{
"title": "Local journalist hit with pepper balls while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-journalist-hit-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-21T18:00:58.679486Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T20:12:27.581247Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T20:12:27.521926Z",
"date": "2021-03-11",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"egvaf\">James Croxton, managing editor of Oregon-based <a href=\"https://doublesidedmedia.com/revealing-the-work-behind-the-story/blog/\">DoubledSided541</a>, which describes itself as an independent media collective, said he was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1370262384250548226\">hit when federal officers fired crowd-control munitions</a> at a small group of journalists covering a March 11, 2021, protest near the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"hsy08\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/03/13-arrested-after-police-kettle-over-100-protesters-in-portlands-pearl-district.html\">The protest was one of many</a> during March in the city’s Pearl District, a popular downtown area where former warehouses are converted to restaurants. The protests have resulted in streets being closed, fires, damage to city property and shop windows smashed, according to The Oregonian. Protests have been taking place in Portland regularly <a href=\"https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/22/us/portland-riot-protesters-charged/index.html\">starting in spring 2020</a>, partly linked to Black Lives Matter but also around issues such as defunding police, environmental actions and other <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/03/police-conduct-mass-arrests-during-pearl-district-protest.html\">social justice issues</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"72uej\">Croxton, who also works for neighborhood news site Village Portland, said he was on 4th Ave., close to the Salmon St. intersection, when the small group of reporters came across what looked to be a canister of HC gas, <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2020/10/10/portland-tear-gas-chemical-grenades-protests/\">a toxic smoke bomb used by the military</a>, burning in the street. Local news outlet Oregon Live has covered incidents of HC gas reportedly being used by the Portland police to disperse protesters “two dozen times.” The gas contains <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/03/police-conduct-mass-arrests-during-pearl-district-protest.html\">hexaclorotethane and is toxic</a>, Oregon Live reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"czqy1\">Croxton said that he had been looking for evidence that police were using chemicals against protesters and the media; he said he has been documenting that in conjunction with the Portland-based research and activist group <a href=\"https://www.chemicalweaponsresearch.com/\">Chemical Weapons Research Consortium</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcdxd\">“Just a couple of seconds after I had walked up to the canister to document, the Federal Protective Service [part of Homeland Security] turned their pepper balls towards us and shot at our feet and ankles,” Croxton told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He said some of the munitions also hit higher on his body, leaving “powder from impacts on my jacket.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u5l58\">Croxton said the pepper balls caused him sharp, but temporary, pain as he walked back from the canister. “Fortunately, pepper ball pains go away relatively quickly,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ipvu\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1370262384250548226?s=20\">video footage of the incident</a>, a small group of people with video cameras, some of whom are clearly wearing “PRESS” on their clothing, or wearing “PRESS” badges, are seen taking footage and don’t appear to be close to protesters. The sound of what appears to be munitions being fired can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"20vni\">Croxton said he believed he was deliberately targeted by law enforcement. “It is unmistakable that the FPS shot at the press. I am, at the very least, very identifiable and have clearly visible 'PRESS' markings.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ihre0\">“I intentionally try my best to stand-out from the rest of the crowd. My press credentials are also light-colored and are made to be seen from a distance,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7y3t\">Croxton told the Tracker: “It's extremely disheartening to be targeted and, essentially, assaulted by the very people who are supposed to ‘protect us.’ I think I can speak for many more than just myself in saying that instances like this during the last year have radicalized our views towards law enforcement.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s0qmo\">The Oregonian reported that <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/03/portland-protesters-marched-cleaned-windows-and-left-the-pearl-district-this-time-with-no-clashes.html\">federal officers drove demonstrators</a> away from the courthouse in downtown Portland that night after fires were started and the building was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"0pvfc\">Officers were deploying impact munitions, tear gas, flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs, the paper reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"adp2s\">Since July, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-damaged-during-arrest-in-portland/\">court rulings</a> from the U.S. District Court in Oregon have barred law enforcement officers from the <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">Portland Police Bureau</a> and <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">federal agencies</a> from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests, as the Tracker <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-damaged-during-arrest-in-portland/\">has previously reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jygq0\">The DHS Office of Public Affairs has not responded to a Tracker request for a comment.</p></div>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Researcher documenting Portland protests hit by pepper ball",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/researcher-documenting-portland-protests-hit-by-pepper-ball/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-21T17:56:19.994245Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:54:07.050995Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:54:06.962519Z",
"date": "2021-03-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h13gg\">Independent researcher and scientist Juniper Simonis said they were targeted and hit by a pepper ball fired by federal officers while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on March 11, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gcuo\">Simonis said they have been publishing information for several months about law enforcement’s use of chemical irritants at protests on Twitter, for a research and activist group called the <a href=\"https://www.chemicalweaponsresearch.com/\">Chemical Weapons Research Consortium</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.weouthere.net/2021/03/pay-no-attention-to-the-gross-negligence-behind-the-smoke/\">with other outlets</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xfswk\">According to local NBC-affiliate<a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/crowd-becomes-destructive-outside-federal-courthouse-in-downtown-portland-officers-deploy-tear-gas/283-7338ea54-532a-496d-a3b2-8195d9e9a698\"> KGW8</a>, a crowd gathered outside the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland to protest against police violence shortly after the courthouse's surrounding fence had been taken down. The article says that around 9 p.m., photographs of smashed windows, burning flags and graffiti-sprayed walls surfaced online. Federal officers responded with tear gas, arrests and chemical munitions, according to CBS-affiliate<a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/portland-protesters-protect-the-land-end-america/\"> KOIN6</a>. Protests have been taking place in Portland regularly <a href=\"https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/22/us/portland-riot-protesters-charged/index.html\">starting in spring 2020</a>, partly linked to Black Lives Matter but also around issues such as defunding police, environmental actions and other <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/03/police-conduct-mass-arrests-during-pearl-district-protest.html\">social justice issues</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"sykfc\">Around 11:30 p.m., Simonis said they were near the intersection of Southwest Fourth Avenue and South Salmon Street where federal officers had deployed what they identified as an "HC grenade," which stands for hexachloroethane. This common ingredient in smoke devices has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a likely carcinogen, and could be potentially deadly, according to<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/01/portland-researcher-finds-federal-agents-used-toxic-smoke-grenades-during-summer-protests.html\"> The Oregonian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1xqg1\">"I was shot in the right boob as I was picking it up and putting it in a container," Simonis told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. "The pepper ball left significant bruising over the next week."</p><p data-block-key=\"ktlnp\">Simonis documents and collects the physical items to add to a munitions library collection that the Chemical Weapons Research Consortium is developing into a research archive. Closer to midnight, Simonis found another HC grenade a block over near South Salmon Street and Southwest Fifth Avenue.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a1yh\">Simonis said they had a press badge, a card they made that had their photograph with the publications they write for listed and the word “PRESS” in large letters, visibly displayed. "They [officers] call me doctor and professor," they added. "They know who I am. I'm also a 6 feet 2 inches visibly trans person...they definitely targeted me."</p><p data-block-key=\"hdxvs\">Simonis also said they experienced negative symptoms in the days following this incident with the HT smoke. "That's why I'm researching it," Simonis said. "For me, that translated to diarrhea, massive lethargy for two days — very common with heavy metal poisoning — and I also had Costochondritis. That is basically inflammation of the cartilage around your sternum."</p><p data-block-key=\"knfsv\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Journalist hit multiple times with projectiles while covering Portland protest around a proposed oil pipeline",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-multiple-times-with-projectiles-while-covering-portland-protest-round-a-proposed-oil-pipeline/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-10T13:59:47.095938Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:53:43.280837Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:53:43.187950Z",
"date": "2021-03-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1lt01\">Independent video journalist Mason Lake said he was targeted with multiple crowd-control munitions by federal officers while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on March 11, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"j70jc\">According to <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/12/protesters-vandalize-portlands-federal-courthouse-again/\">Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>, demonstrators gathered outside the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland to protest a proposed oil pipeline between Alberta, Canada, and Wisconsin that <a href=\"https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/anishinaabe-communities-fight-against-line-3-pipeline\">three Anishinaabe communities and environmental organizations</a> say would violate native treaty rights. Over the course of two hours, multiple skirmishes erupted as protesters set fires and officers deployed crowd-control munitions and arrested people, according to <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/portland-protesters-protect-the-land-end-america/\">KOIN</a>, a Portland CBS affiliate.</p><p data-block-key=\"qdz66\">“I got shot up SO many times last night by DHS & Federal ICE & BORTAC officers,” Lake <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1370297427782111235?s=20\">tweeted</a> at 12:55 a.m. on March 12. Border Patrol Tactical Unit teams were previously deployed by the Trump administration <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/07/29/very-serious-conversations-underway-to-remove-federal-officers-from-portland/\">during the height of the July protests</a> in Portland, alongside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security officers.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I got shot up SO many times last night by DHS & Federal ICE & BORTAC officers. Gassed also. As usual... So far 6 noticeable hits, see whats bruised in the morning 🤕🤕🤕 <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/munitions?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#munitions</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/feds?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#feds</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/shoot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#shoot</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/press?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#press</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/7yv91cXLSQ\">pic.twitter.com/7yv91cXLSQ</a></p>— Mason Lake Media (@MasonLakePhoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1370297427782111235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ol96z\">Lake posted photos of bruises that he said came from at least six hits, even though “I was mark[ed] as press from all angles. The chest, back, thighs, foot,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"x2lmp\">During one of the incidents, Lake said a federal officer shot him in the back with several high impact marking rounds. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGQPLGXJqLQ\">video</a> posted to Youtube, sounds of rounds being fired can be heard at 0:17, right before Lake whips his camera around and marches up to the officer who shot him. At 2:30 a.m., Lake <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1370318699056394242?s=20\">tweeted a similar video</a> of a canister releasing what he identified as “HC Smoke,” which stands for hexachloroethane, a “common ingredient in smoke devices that the Environmental Protection Agency has classified as a likely carcinogen” and could be potentially deadly, according to <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/01/portland-researcher-finds-federal-agents-used-toxic-smoke-grenades-during-summer-protests.html\">The Oregonian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qkcqq\">“These rounds are meant to mark people for detainment. I was committing no crime whatsoever, I was not disobeying any orders given,” Lake told the Tracker. “This leads one to believe that the DHS officer was purely trying to deter me from filming the canister by inflicting physical harm onto me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0800h\">Lake said he had press credentials from the National Press Photographers Association, nonprofit media cooperative Halospace Media and Boop Troop Eugene LLC, a live media outlet that covers protests and local events, in addition to visible press markings on his clothes.</p><p data-block-key=\"8igwl\">DHS, which coordinated the ICE presence in Portland, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Lake_assault_031121.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"umsvu\">Independent videographer Mason Lake said he was hit with this crowd-control munition and others on March 11, 2021, while covering a demonstration in Portland against a proposed oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mason Lake (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Judge quashes subpoena of AP reporter in Idaho criminal case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-subpoena-of-ap-reporter-in-idaho-criminal-case/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-08T16:40:24.484285Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:02:01.735049Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T15:02:01.673501Z",
"date": "2021-03-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Boise",
"longitude": -116.20345,
"latitude": 43.6135,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ockki\">Associated Press reporter Keith Ridler was subpoenaed on March 10, 2021, by anti-government activist Ammon Bundy, who was seeking Ridler’s reporting materials and testimony in a criminal case against Bundy in Idaho, the<a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trials-coronavirus-pandemic-ammon-bundy-arrests-covid-19-pandemic-63916b8a4ee046aa84cdcf5f38976ede\"> AP reported</a>. An Idaho judge quashed the subpoena on March 15.</p><p data-block-key=\"u7c7w\">Bundy sought the information in a criminal case against him stemming from protests he led against COVID-19 measures at the Idaho Statehouse<a href=\"https://eu.theledger.com/story/news/2020/08/26/bundy-arrested-idaho-statehouse-second-time-2-days/5636205002/\"> in August</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"kgu8j\">Ridler reported on and photographed Bundy’s arrests, according to the AP. The journalist was one of several people Bundy subpoenaed who were at the Statehouse at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"iv3yc\">The AP filed a motion to quash Bundy’s subpoena on March 11. According to the AP’s report, the news organization argued that the subpoena would be a violation of “Idaho Reporter’s Privilege,” which protects journalists from being compelled to share certain information or testify.</p><p data-block-key=\"a53hg\">“Subpoenas to members of the media are particularly onerous because they threaten to intrude into the newsgathering process,” AP’s attorneys wrote in the motion. “Being forced to testify or produce evidence in a court case also threatens the independence of a free press and potentially puts journalists at personal risk.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0n9bu\">Bundy, who is representing himself in the case, did not respond to the AP’s motion, the news organization reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqkc2\">On March 15, Ada County Magistrate Judge David Manweiler said that Bundy did not demonstrate that his subpoena would have met the criteria to proceed, according to the AP’s story.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l4jv\">Bundy’s trial was set to begin that day, but the defendant was not in attendance because he refused to wear a mask in compliance with court rules, the AP reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"svb8r\">Bundy subsequently filed a second subpoena seeking reporting materials and testimony from Ridler on May 27, according to an AP spokesperson. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-reporter-subpoenaed-for-second-time-in-idaho-criminal-case/\">That subpoena was also quashed</a>. Find all subpoenas, which are documented separately on the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/subpoena/\">here</a>.A spokesperson for the AP declined to comment on the subpoena. The Tracker was not able to reach Bundy, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/07/ammon-bundy-convicted-in-idaho-trespassing-trial.html\">who was found guilty</a> on July 1 of trespassing and obstructing or resisting officers, for comment.</p></div>",
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Idaho",
"abbreviation": "ID"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Keith Ridler (The Associated Press)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Justice Department secretly obtained Project Veritas journalist’s email information",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-project-veritas-journalists-email-information/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-12T21:10:49.735242Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-12T21:10:49.735242Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-12T21:10:49.648769Z",
"date": "2021-03-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lto6r\">The U.S. Justice Department issued a secret order to Microsoft on March 9, 2021, to obtain email information from a Project Veritas journalist as part of its investigation of a diary stolen from President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.</p><p data-block-key=\"7utbs\">The name of the employee whose emails were targeted was redacted in <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.64.1.pdf\">the order</a>, but in a later <a href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/36sXRLOl9uMicjgduyyLkB/d4063861052db931115a0b18f29ebfc5/2022-03-22__DE_64__Motion_regarding_Microsoft_materials.pdf\">court filing</a>, attorneys for Project Veritas identified the person as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqj2b\">The order was one of five issued to the technology company for communications of eight journalists from Project Veritas, which is known for hidden-camera sting operations of liberal politicians and nonprofits. As a result, the government collected nearly 200,000 emails and other files, attorneys for Project Veritas said in a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.70.0.pdf\">court filing</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ires\">In the other secret warrants, federal agents sought emails and contacts from Project Veritas founder <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-project-veritas-founder/\">James O’Keefe</a>, Project Veritas journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-project-veritas-journalists-emails/\">Eric Cochran and Spencer Meads,</a> and four <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-three-project-veritas-journalists/\">additional</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-secretly-obtained-emails-from-project-veritas-journalist/\">unidentified</a> Project Veritas journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"9oep8\">Project Veritas, which identifies itself as a nonprofit investigative outlet, purchased the Biden diary in September 2020 from <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/us/politics/ashley-biden-diary-project-veritas-guilty.html\">two people who later pleaded guilty</a> to conspiring to transport stolen materials, a felony. Project Veritas never published the diary and gave it to police on Nov. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"b1sop\">The Department of Justice, however, opened an investigation into the outlet and its journalists concerning alleged conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, conspiracy to possess stolen goods, interstate transportation of stolen property and possession of stolen goods.</p><p data-block-key=\"uh9h\">The secret <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823/gov.uscourts.nysd.569823.64.1.pdf\">order sought the journalist’s email header information,</a> including timestamps, names, usernames or IP addresses of senders or recipients of communications from Sept. 1, 2020, until Dec. 1, 2020. A U.S. District Court ordered that the March 9 order be sealed for one year.</p><p data-block-key=\"7gv7c\">After the warrants and order became public, Project Veritas lawyers <a href=\"https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/36sXRLOl9uMicjgduyyLkB/d4063861052db931115a0b18f29ebfc5/2022-03-22__DE_64__Motion_regarding_Microsoft_materials.pdf\">filed a request for preliminary relief from U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres</a>. It does not appear from court records that the court ruled on this request.</p><p data-block-key=\"6dhac\">Separately, search warrants were carried out at the homes of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/project-veritas-founder-detained-phones-seized-amid-fbi-raid-of-his-home/\">O’Keefe,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-project-veritas-staffer-detained-devices-seized/\">Cochran</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-project-veritas-journalist-detained-devices-seized/\">Meads</a> in November 2021, alarming <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24253862-143-letter-brief-of-amici-curiae-aclu-fpf-fire-in-re-search-warrant-dated-november-5-2021-no-21-mc-00813\">free speech advocates</a>, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project. A special master was appointed to determine what seized information could be shared with prosecutors.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/March-9-order.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pvt7n\">A portion of a March 9, 2021, Justice Department court order issued to Microsoft seeking email information from a Project Veritas journalist.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": "Microsoft",
"third_party_business": "tech company",
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified journalist 16 (Project Veritas)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent videographer struck with batons while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-struck-with-batons-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-19T19:18:45.277045Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:54:30.389406Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:54:30.309130Z",
"date": "2021-03-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pyoxl\">Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles, said police officers struck him more than two dozen times with batons while he was covering a protest in the city on March 8, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"rq3lo\">Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest, organized by the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CoalitionForCommunityControlOverPolice/\">Coalition for Community Control Over the Police</a>, had ended in downtown LA by the time officers descended on the crowd. The protest was one in a surge of demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have been held since May 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"s8pxq\">“Protesters had started to disperse when LAPD popped up out of nowhere and just started blocking off the street, so tensions started rising between activists and police,” Singh said. “All of a sudden [the police] got very aggressive very fast.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n4hnb\">Singh said he was standing next to the mother of a man shot and killed by police when officers started getting into their “pushing position” ahead of rushing the crowd. Officers then brought out their batons and began shoving the crowd back and hitting the demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"xbq5z\">“I didn’t really move because I had what I thought was a pretty important angle of a double frame: on the left side you see the police and on the right side you see the protesters being hit with batons,” Singh said. “In the process of that filming I was batoned in the stomach and chest area about 30 or more times. I was hit so consistently and so hard that one journalist pointed out to me that my press badge had actually been beaten off of me.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAPDHQ</a> officers decided to baton me over 24 times while I was filming their brutality against a civil rights protest. While I was recovering from the assault, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ACatWithNews</a> pointed out that my press credentials were gone.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAPDHQ</a> literally beat the press pass off me. <a href=\"https://t.co/t62lYpKeWM\">pic.twitter.com/t62lYpKeWM</a></p>— Vishal P Singh (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1369148329246912512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2021</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gkcsd\">Singh said that while he was wearing a press badge, he wasn’t wearing his ballistic vest labeled with “PRESS” because he had thought the protest would be low-risk. He had extra copies of his press badge, Singh said, and was able to put a new one on his lanyard.</p><p data-block-key=\"9swy9\">“My stomach, ribs, and wrist are bruised and coughing now hurts my stomach,” Singh told the Tracker via email a few hours after the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"gtwpj\">The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Vishal Singh (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
