Talk radio host harassed and attacked at a Seattle demonstration protesting Palestinian evictions

May 16, 2021
Jason Rantz, host of the talk radio show the Jason Rantz Show show on Seattle’s KTTH 770 AM, said he was harassed and attacked by members of a crowd at a May 16, 2021, demonstration in Seattle, Washington, that was called to protest evictions of Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.According to Falastiniyat, a Seattle-based group and organizers of the demonstration, the event at Westlake Park also commemorated the 73rd anniversary of Nakba, the Palestinian term for the …

Independent journalists sprayed with chemical irritant while covering Seattle protest

October 3, 2020
Independent videographers Scott Keeler and Melissa Lewis were hit with a chemical irritant sprayed by a police officer while covering a Seattle protest on Oct. 3, 2020.The Portland-based journalists were covering one of the many protests held in Seattle since late May in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests …

Photojournalist’s camera slapped away, blocked at rally against defunding Seattle Police Department

August 9, 2020
An individual attending a rally slapped away a freelance photojournalist’s camera as he photographed an Aug. 9, 2020, rally in Seattle, Washington, according to the photojournalist and a video of the incident.Noah Riffe, 20, a student and freelance photographer, had been covering protests that began in Seattle in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Riffe told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for Turkish news platform Anadolu Images on Aug. …

Photographer pepper sprayed while covering Seattle protest

July 25, 2020
A photographer said a Seattle law enforcement officer pepper-sprayed him while he was covering protests in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.The independent photographer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker it was clear police were aiming for his head when he was hit with pepper spray. “The entire right side of my helmet was blue,” he said.The Washington Post reported there were approximately 2,000 people demonstrating that afternoon, the largest gathering in more than a …

Independent journalist shoved by police, hit with crowd-control devices at Seattle protest

July 25, 2020
Independent social media journalist Joey Wieser said he was shoved by police and sprayed in the face and mouth with a chemical irritant while reporting on a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.Protests in Seattle had been held regularly since George Floyd, a Black man, was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. In late July, the Seattle protests intensified when the Trump administration deployed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers to the city, Crosscut …

Multiple journalists targeted projectiles while covering Seattle protest

July 25, 2020
Three Seattle-based journalists were assaulted by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in the city on July 25, 2020.Omari Salisbury, the founder of Converge Media, was pepper-sprayed, hit with projectiles and shoved. Converge producer John Mitchell was hit with a flash-bang grenade and pepper-sprayed. And Seattle Gay News reporter Renee Raketty was targeted with a blast ball.According to Crosscut, demonstrators that day had gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood both as part of the wave of protests in the …

British reporter arrested, held for six hours amid Seattle protests

July 1, 2020
Andrew Buncombe, the chief U.S. correspondent for British newspaper The Independent, was arrested while covering demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, on July 1, 2020.In an account for The Independent, published July 9, Buncombe wrote that he was on assignment in Seattle to document the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest in Cal Anderson Park and the surrounding streets. For more than a month, the area had been a focal point for sustained protests following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black …
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