Journalist arrested while covering a Portland protest, equipment confiscated and damaged

September 26, 2020
A journalist with Full Revolution Media said he was arrested by police while covering a protest on the night of Sept. 26, 2020, in downtown Portland, Oregon.The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.Law enforcement officers in …

Student photojournalist arrested, equipment seized during L.A. protest

September 8, 2020
Pablo Unzueta, a freelance photojournalist and video editor for California State University, Long Beach’s newspaper, the Daily 49er, was arrested while documenting protests in the South Los Angeles area on Sept. 8, 2020.Unzueta told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following a group of protesters as they gathered for the fourth consecutive night outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.At approximately 8:30 p.m. on …

ACLU files for ‘false imprisonment’ against Washington, D.C. police after photojournalist arrested, equipment seized

August 31, 2020
Oyoma Asinor, an independent photographer, was covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, 2020, when he was arrested by D.C. police and his camera and other equipment seized.According to an ACLU of DC lawsuit filed on Asinor’s behalf in August 2021, Asinor arrived around midnight at Black Lives Matter Plaza to cover a BLM protest and found Metropolitan Police officers with shields and helmets standing in front of St. John’s Church, where barricades had been …

Journalist arrested, cameras seized while covering protests in Washington, DC

August 13, 2020
Freelance journalist Kian Kelley-Chung was arrested while covering protests in Washington D.C. on Aug. 13, 2020, and held overnight in jail. Although police dropped felony riot charges against him, the journalist’s two cameras and cell phone were seized by law enforcement officers and were not returned for over two months, Kelley-Chung told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.On the evening of Aug. 13 and into the morning of Aug. 14, protestors demonstrating against police brutality and in support of the Black …

Photographer slammed to the ground, arrested by Portland police

August 8, 2020
Joseph Rushmore, a freelance documentary photographer, was arrested by police officers and charged with two misdemeanors while covering a demonstration in the early hours of Aug. 8, 2020, in northeast Portland, Oregon.The protest was one of many that have broken out across the U.S. 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 …

Videojournalist arrested, equipment seized and damaged during Austin protests

July 17, 2020
Independent videojournalist Hiram Gilberto Garcia was arrested and his equipment seized while covering protests in Austin, Texas, on July 17, 2020.Garcia, who posts his livestreams and interviews on Facebook and his website, was documenting protests against police brutality in front of the Austin Police Department Headquarters downtown when officers tackled him to the ground and punched him, KXAN News reported. Garcia’s livestream from that evening can be seen here.According to an affidavit obtained by KXAN, Austin Police Department officers were …

Portland journalist arrested, his equipment damaged and seized

July 1, 2020
Freelance journalist Justin Yau was arrested on July 1, 2020, while filming the arrest of a protester in northeast Portland, Oregon.Yau, a student at the University of Portland whose work has been featured by the Daily Mail and The New York Times, was covering one of the many protests that had broken out across the U.S. 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.…

Photojournalist says Portland police seized GoPro as ‘evidence’ during protest

June 30, 2020
Portland photojournalist Alex Milan Tracy said the Portland Police Bureau seized his GoPro camera “as evidence” when he was covering a protest outside the police union office in the Oregon city’s North Portland neighborhood on June 30, 2020.The protest was one of the many that broke out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is …
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