first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2021-08-05 18:50:08.764180+00:00,2022-03-10 21:41:31.607362+00:00,Independent journalist’s phone knocked from hands during ‘We Are Israel’ rally,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalists-phone-knocked-from-hands-during-we-are-israel-rally/,2022-03-10 21:41:31.548453+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Tina-Desiree Berg (Independent),,2021-07-25,False,El Cajon,California (CA),32.79477,-116.96253,"
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg’s phone was deliberately knocked out of her hands while she was documenting clashing demonstrations in El Cajon, California, on July 25, 2021.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported far-right demonstrators had gathered in the San Diego suburb to attend the “We Are Israel” rally at which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder were scheduled to speak. Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she began reporting that day around 2:30 p.m. at a nearby park where counterprotesters were gathering ahead of a planned march to the rally.
I’m in El Cajon, inland from San Diego, where Christian Zionists are staging a rally with Mike Pompeo and Larry Elders. Jewish Voice for Peace and PSL are staging a protest pic.twitter.com/Gde2YHMhTS
— Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face, Milkshake Whisperer (@TinaDesireeBerg) July 25, 2021
Berg said that around 4 p.m. the marchers had made it to approximately a block away from the Prescott Promenade, where the rally was taking place, when they ran into a group of far-right demonstrators who were standing around some sort of a blockade on the street. Berg said she quickly ran up to begin filming the group and their interactions with the marchers.
“As I was standing there filming I decided to pull out my phone camera too to get back-up footage just because there was so much going on,” Berg said. “And I’m standing there and I’m concentrating just on filming so I didn’t see it coming but he came over and he blasted the phone out of my hand and I ran to go get it.”
At 2:08 in footage Berg posted to YouTube, an individual can be seen grabbing at independent videographer Vishal Singh’s press badge and then turning to taunt the crowd. At 0:33 in Singh’s footage of the incident, the same man can be seen deliberately knocking the phone out of Berg’s hands before seconds later returning to where Singh is filming and deliberately knocking the phone from his hands as well.
There is an immediate clash between sides, instigated by the far right extremists. The man in the punisher shirt with the yellow sleeves tries to assault me, then he knocks @TinaDesireeBerg’s phone down, then he knocks my phone down as well. pic.twitter.com/iO76cApYCi
— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) July 25, 2021
Berg tweeted immediately following the incident that she was also caught in a cloud of bear spray, and in her footage she can be heard coughing and reacting to the spray and puts her camera down at 6:15 in the clip in order to receive treatment. She told the Tracker that her phone was not damaged by the fall, but she decided shortly after the incident to leave without making it to the rally.
“Me and two of the other press guys who were there — I’m not sure who, one of them was from the San Diego Union-Tribune — we never made it down to the event because it was not safe,” Berg told the Tracker.
Berg said in addition to her video camera she was also wearing a press badge around her neck and a flak jacket labeled with “PRESS.” She said she hasn’t filed a police report about the incident.
Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, was pushed and his phone knocked out of his hands as he documented clashing demonstrations in El Cajon, California, on July 25, 2021, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported far-right demonstrators had gathered in the San Diego suburb to attend the “We Are Israel” rally at which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder were scheduled to speak. Singh told the Tracker that he began reporting that day shortly before 3 p.m. at a nearby park where counterprotesters were gathering ahead of a planned march to the rally.
Singh said that around 4 p.m. the marchers had made it to approximately a block away from the Prescott Promenade, where the rally was taking place, when they ran into a group of far-right demonstrators standing around a barricade.
“There was pretty much immediately a clash between the two sides,” Singh said, “and I was one of the first people assaulted.”
Singh told the Tracker that an individual came forward from the barricade and attempted to push him and grab his press badge, but Singh was able to deflect him and told the man not to touch him. In footage Singh posted to Twitter, the clip begins with the man approaching him. At 0:33 in the footage, the individual can be seen deliberately knocking the phone out of independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg’s hands before returning to where Singh is filming and deliberately knocking the phone from his hands as well.
There is an immediate clash between sides, instigated by the far right extremists. The man in the punisher shirt with the yellow sleeves tries to assault me, then he knocks @TinaDesireeBerg’s phone down, then he knocks my phone down as well. pic.twitter.com/iO76cApYCi
— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) July 25, 2021
Singh told the Tracker that his phone may have sustained additional damage, but the screen was already cracked from an incident on July 17.
After the clashes continued, Singh said, a far-right demonstrator walked up to the counterprotesters and sprayed a chemical irritant at them. “And then he turned around to me, chased me and bear maced me,” Singh said.
Singh said he hasn’t yet filed a police report about the assaults.