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 2022-06-21 16:45:36.039634+00:00,2022-11-08 20:24:02.284400+00:00,Journalist detained by deputies after documenting arrests at Idaho Pride parade,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-by-deputies-after-documenting-arrests-at-idaho-pride-parade/,2022-11-08 20:24:02.206554+00:00,,,,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Equipment Search or Seizure",,vehicle: count of 1,,Alissa Azar (Independent),,2022-06-11,False,Coeur d'Alene,Idaho (ID),47.67768,-116.78047,"
Independent journalist Alissa Azar was detained by Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies and her car searched after she documented multiple arrests at a Pride parade in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on June 11, 2022.
Portland-based Azar told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she decided to travel to Idaho when she became aware that right-wing and neo-Nazi groups were planning a protest in opposition to the annual Pride in the Park event.
Azar told the Tracker she documented the arrests of two individuals at around 1 p.m., and then continued to report on the general festivities and the actions of the gathered counterprotesters. Azar said she was planning to leave a few hours later when she saw a sheriff running with his baton out, trailed by six or seven individuals.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on but I knew something was happening, so I started running and I followed them,” Azar said. “I followed all the way out of the park and another one to one-and-a-half blocks away, where there were a bunch of police cars in the street. As I got a little bit closer that’s when I saw the group of Patriot Front that was arrested.”
CNN reported that 31 individuals believed to be affiliated with Patriot Front — which the Anti-Defamation League identifies as a white supremacist group — were arrested for conspiracy to riot.
Azar said that while filming law enforcement unmasking and processing each individual, an officer called her by name and told the officer next to him, “There’s your girl, the one filming.”
At approximately 1:38 in her footage, a voice can be heard saying, “Hey Azar, hey Azar.” As the video pans to the right, an officer waves at her while a voice off screen says, “Yeah, that’s her.”
Patriot front arrested. they have a uhaul filled with shields and idk what else https://t.co/c8pCyd0xGW pic.twitter.com/omQuLyPpoe
— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) June 11, 2022
Azar told the Tracker that she returned to her car when the arrests were finished, which was parked about a mile away.
“I had a bad feeling after being called out by name, but I didn’t notice anyone following me,” Azar said. She opened all of her car doors to allow it to cool off; within five minutes, a Kootenai Sheriff's deputy arrived and began asking her questions.
“I do think it was extremely targeted,” Azar told the Tracker.
The deputy told her that by leaving her doors open she was blocking the roadway and breaking the law, so she closed the doors but the officer continued to question her and asked her to sit on the sidewalk. Azar told the Tracker that throughout the encounter she identified herself as a journalist and was wearing her press badge.
She said two additional police vehicles pulled up within 15 minutes, and an officer questioned her about her presence at the various arrests during the day.
“He said that he was suspicious of my involvement because I was one of the first people there on the scene, but I thought that was very odd because there were a bunch of onlookers there that were witnessing it,” Azar said. “And I was the first person at every arrest that happened that day because that’s kind of what I do: I document all of that.”
She was then told to go back to the sidewalk, where within moments a Sheriff’s deputy told her she was being detained.
“I thought it was a joke,” Azar said.
“Ok. NOW you’re being detained.” I thought this was a joke at first, but they were serious. The sheriff left for a moment as the other cops began taking a ton of pictures of me on their phones. The sheriff came back with his K9 and the cops began searching every inch of the car
— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) June 12, 2022
The K-9 officer and other deputies proceeded to search her car and belongings. Azar said that while she was sitting on the sidewalk, numerous other officers took photos of her with their cellphones.
Officers did not find anything in her car, Azar said, and she was ultimately released without charges after about an hour. She told the Tracker she has not decided whether to file a complaint with the Sheriff’s department.
More than 30 members of a white nationalist group were arrested at a Pride event in Idaho on June 11, 2022. Shortly after documenting their arrests, independent journalist Alissa Azar was herself detained by law enforcement.
",detained and released without being processed,Kootenai County Sheriff's Office,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,LGBTQ+ rights,,, 2021-09-21 19:57:17.925419+00:00,2022-10-26 20:09:53.651129+00:00,"Independent journalist chased, assaulted by mob during protest in Oregon",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-chased-assaulted-by-mob-during-protest-in-oregon/,2022-10-26 20:09:53.569935+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Alissa Azar (Independent),,2021-09-04,False,Olympia,Oregon (OR),None,None,"Independent journalist Alissa Azar tweeted that she was chased and assaulted by a mob of Proud Boys wearing helmets and carrying shields as she covered a protest in Olympia, Oregon, on Sept. 4, 2021.
This is the moment I was attacked. You can’t see actually it happen but you can hear me screaming for them to get off of me as they celebrate my assault and encourage more. evac’d & out safely. I don’t wanna recap at the moment so I’ll update later. https://t.co/0c6bWzcm0J
— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) September 5, 2021
Business Insider reported that the protest was organized near the state capitol as an anti-COVID-19 demonstration.
Video posted on Twitter shows the gang suddenly change direction and head towards Azar, shouting her name, surrounding her and pulling her to the ground.
She said on Twitter she had been walking with a group but had separated from them to walk a short distance when she was suddenly targeted by a group of about 50 Proud Boys.
In another video, members of the mob can be heard shouting “get her” and “whip her ass,” and then are seen leaving the scene laughing. Many of them are masked and wearing helmets and body armour.
Azar, who did not respond to a request by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker for a comment, tweeted right after the attack that people in a nearby bar in Olympia helped her get away. “I ran as fast as I could. They caught me and pulled my hair and shoved me to the ground then bear maced me.”
In a separate tweet she added: “Not OK and shaking, but safe now and have protection.”
The Olympia Police Department did not respond to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for a comment.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar was hit with crowd-control munitions by federal officers while covering a protest in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in southern Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 20, 2021.
According to news reports, an estimated 100 people marched to the ICE facility around 9 p.m. and began chanting to protest the detention and caging of migrant children. At 9:30 p.m., federal officers declared the gathering an unlawful assembly.
Azar, who was live-tweeting during the protest, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was standing on the sidewalk across the street from the facility with a row of journalists when federal officers suddenly rushed outside from the ICE building. She said they deployed crowd-control munitions including pepper balls and tear gas for "almost 20 minutes straight" to push the crowd back.
Teargas currently flooding the neighborhood. Almost 20 minutes straight of teargas and munitions. pic.twitter.com/yQItLq5Gar
— Alissa Azar (@AlissaAzar) January 21, 2021
Azar said she left the ICE facility with a reporter with Full Revolution Media, John, who declined to provide his last name due to safety concerns. She heard of a different gathering happening two blocks away, but she said that when they arrived, there were no protesters, only a line of federal officers.
Those officers pushed Azar and the other reporter “back to the ICE building even though [officers at the ICE building were] asking people to leave," Azar told the Tracker. When she got back with the other members of the press, the officers "were just fumigating [us] directly in the face.” Azar said she did not know what the officers were spraying at the crowd.
“What’s scary about that machine is that you can’t look at the spent munitions to see what they’re deploying,” John added. The officers used what John described as a pesticide gun, similar in shape to a leaf blower, to release an unknown gas.
In a tweet posted at 11:46 p.m., Azar wrote that she "lost count of pushes" and her chest hurt, making it hard to breath. She told the Tracker she was wearing visible press markings on her clothes and helmet, as well as a National Press Photographers Association credential. John said he wore a helmet with press markings across the front and back.
"I had a flash bang thrown right at my ear," Azar told the Tracker. "I ended up passing out because I was trapped in the tear gas and it went through my gas mask." She said her friends then took her to Providence Portland Medical Center’s emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a concussion and torn muscle.
The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incident.
The ICE protest was one of many social justice demonstrations in Portland that have been ongoing since protests first broke out in May 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Two journalists were threatened with firearms by individuals while covering a protest in Vancouver, Washington, during the early morning hours of Oct. 31, 2020.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar was involved in two separate incidents, the first involving shots being fired. Later, she and a journalist with Full Revolution Media had a gun pointed at them. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented his experience here.
They were covering one of 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.
The demonstration, which began on Oct. 30 and stretched past midnight, was also held to protest the local shooting of Kevin Peterson Jr., a Black man killed by Clark County deputies the day before.
The protest started in Hazel Dell, a suburb about three miles northwest of Vancouver where Peterson was shot, according to The Columbian newspaper. Hundreds of demonstrators and counterprotesters marched from the Fred Meyer store in Hazel Dell where Peterson was shot to downtown Vancouver.
A statement from Vancouver police said a dispersal order was given around 12:15 a.m. on the 31st, claiming the group "became more aggressive when it congregated near the Clark County Jail." Reports of “shots being fired in the air by one of the protestors” came in around 12:25 a.m., it said, though added that no injuries were reported.
At 12:26 a.m., Azar tweeted, “Shots fired.” She wrote in a follow-up tweet that the shots “happened in eyesight of the police but nothing was done."
In a video accompanying that tweet, a vehicle can be seen in the distance, backing away from where Azar and others are standing. Then someone yells, “He’s got a gun!” and two bangs can be heard.
About a half hour later, a woman pulled a gun on Azar and a group of people. At 1:05 a.m., she posted a photograph of the woman, writing, "She just waved a gun around at at least 20 of us."
Azar told the Tracker that the woman was with members of the local chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors, which Azar called a “known local right-wing group."
Azar was wearing visible press markings on her clothes and helmet, she said, as well as a National Press Photographers Association credential. While she wasn’t physically injured, it was a visible threat, she said.
Azar also posted a photograph of the woman pointing the gun at John, the Full Revolution Media reporter, writing, "The police were right behind us when it happened. Here she's pointing it at @Johnthelefty."
John, who asked that his last name not be used out of safety concerns, told the Tracker that there were several hostile moments between demonstrators and right-wing counterprotesters.
“During tense group dynamics, the girl with the two guys involved in fights pulled a gun and pointed it at every person that she walked by,” he said. “Cops did not respond.”
John said he didn’t have press markings that night, but was there as a journalist. He didn’t sustain any injuries.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was harassed and assaulted by Portland police while covering a protest in front of the Police Bureau North Precinct on Oct. 10, 2020.
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 Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The city agreed to a preliminary injunction in July to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work.
At 10:22 p.m. on Oct. 10 Azar tweeted a video of officers surrounding protesters, yelling at and aggressively pushing them around. At the 1:10 time mark, an officer approaches Azar saying, “If you want to film, you can do it from down there,” pressuring them to walk away from the scene. Another officer suddenly charges at them, yelling, “Move! I don’t care what the TRO says.”
Azar told the Tracker she was physically pushed and was wearing her National Press Photographers Association pass, as well as a helmet and vest with press markings.
The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar was shoved and hit with batons by law enforcement officers while she was covering a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon, during the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2020.
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 Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The city agreed to a preliminary injunction in July to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work.
On the night of Sept. 26, several hundred protesters gathered in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center for a demonstration that lasted into the early morning hours, according to local news station KGW8. After an unlawful assembly was declared around 11:30 p.m., law enforcement officers “began bull-rushing and pushing protesters, press, and legal observers,” the article said.
A little after midnight, Azar was pushed around, hit with batons and shoved to the ground by officers while covering the demonstration, she told the Tracker.
“Before we knew it, a few riot vans came in and arrested three people just for standing in the street,” she said, noting that officers from the Portland Police Bureau, Oregon State Police and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office were working together under a unified command.
“They pushed us SO far. And by pushed I mean literally sprinting as fast as they could after us...I saw countless people get pushed and hit,” Azar tweeted at 12:25 a.m.
In a follow-up tweet, she wrote, “I got told to move and to ‘use my brain’ and ‘self accountability’ for saying I’m moving. I then got pushed to the ground, picked up by my backpack strap & pushed again then told to ‘stop flopping around.’ Wrist is already bruising and swelling & hurt my ankle.”
I got told to move and to “use my brain” and “self accountability” for saying I’m moving. I then got pushed to the ground, picked up by my backpack strap & pushed again then told to “stop flopping around.” Wrist is already bruising and swelling & hurt my ankle 😎
— Alissa Azar (@AlissaAzar) September 27, 2020
Azar sustained a minor concussion, numerous bruises, a thumb injury that required medical attention and a cracked phone screen, she said.
She had been wearing a vest and helmet, both labeled with press markings, she said, as well as a National Press Photographers Association press pass.
In a joint statement on that day’s demonstrations, MCSO Sheriff Mike Reese and OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton praised officers for maintaining safety and order while allowing people to exercise their rights.
When reached by email about this incident, the PPB declined to comment, citing pending litigation. MCSO didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
OSP spokesperson Timothy Fox told the Tracker that “if someone feels that excessive or improper force was used against them,” they may report it to the Office of Professional Standards for investigation.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar was pushed by a police officer while she was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 8, 2020, according to the journalist and her social media posts.
Azar was documenting one of the many protests that have been held on almost a nightly basis 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 across the country.
Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a temporary restraining order, and later a preliminary injunction, barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.
The Sept. 8 demonstration began at Waterfront Park downtown after 9 p.m., according to KOIN, the local CBS affiliate. Demonstrators then marched to the nearby Transit Police Department Offices, where protesters threw eggs and water bottles at police officers, KOIN reported.
Sometime before 11 p.m., Azar was filming police officers arrest a protester when some of the officers yelled at her and other members of the press to move back. One of the officers then started pushing Azar with a baton.
“The cops also held back a group of press and stopped us from joining protesters twice. They pushed us pretty hard while already on the sidewalk,” Azar tweeted at 10:53 p.m.
About 20 minutes later, Azar posted a video on Twitter showing the incident. About 30 seconds into the video, while Azar’s camera is trained on the arrest, an officer can be seen pushing Azar backwards with a baton. Azar can be heard responding that she was “on the sidewalk.”
Also around that time, a police officer threatened to arrest Azar and other journalists if they stood in the street. In a video Azar posted on Twitter the next day, a police officer can be overheard saying, “If they’re press and they’re in the street, take them into custody.”
Azar confirmed the events to the Tracker.
The PPB, in a statement on that night’s protest, said several arrests were made of people who were blocking traffic or throwing projectiles at officers during the protest at the transit police offices.
PPB spokesman Derek Carmon declined to comment on the specific incident, but said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.
Freelance journalist Alissa Azar was shoved and shot with pepper balls by law enforcement while documenting protesters getting arrested outside the Penumbra Kelly Building, in northeast Portland, Oregon on Aug. 30, 2020, according to social media posts.
Azar was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to a preliminary injunction in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.
The Kelly building has been a repeated focus of demonstrators because it houses the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and some Portland Police Bureau units. The Aug. 30 protest was declared an “unlawful assembly” at 10:40 p.m. after protesters threw rocks and eggs at officers, according to the local KATU news station.
Azar tweeted that she “got shot with a pepper bullet for recording an arrest, pushed down to the ground aggressively.”
Griffin Malone, another independent journalist, captured the scene from across the street in a video he posted on Twitter.
The MCSCO didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was shot with munitions and had a stun grenade and tear gas thrown at her by law enforcement officers while covering a demonstration in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 20, 2020.
Azar was covering one of the many protests in Portland that have been held on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to the city agreeing to a preliminary injunction in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests. The injunction was expanded to include federal agents later that month.
On the night of Aug. 20, protesters gathered outside the building housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in southwest Portland. Demonstrators sprayed graffiti on the building and tampered with the gate and windows, according to local news station KPTV, prompting officers from the Portland Police Bureau and Federal Protective Service, who emerged around 11:20 p.m., to confront the group.
Federal agents then began shooting pepper balls, stun grenades and tear gas at the crowd of protesters and press. The PPB was cited by KPTV as saying its officers didn’t fire crowd-control munitions or tear gas.
Azar posted a video on Twitter showing her getting hit several times, first with a stun grenade and then by some type of munitions. Soon after, she tweeted, “I had a stun grenade thrown at my ankle, tear gas canisters thrown at me got shot at. I’m ok just hurts.”
Here’s the cannister that you can see the feds rolled right at my feet before one of them shot me. I was bleeding above my foot from this and where I got shot is quite swollen. #BlackLivesMatter #AbolishICE #PortlandProtests #PortlandProtest #PDXprotests #pdx #DefendPdx #ACAB pic.twitter.com/jjni5nzqAU
— Alissa Azar (@R3volutionDaddy) August 21, 2020
Freelance journalist Griffin Malone captured the incident from another direction in a video he published on Twitter. About 30 seconds into the video, Azar, wearing a visible press badge, is seen running away and saying, “Ow!”
In a follow-up tweet, Malone published a photo of Azar with a welt on her body, writing that Azar “was hit in ankle with flash bang and then shot at.”
Azar said she believes the officers purposefully fired towards her. “I was standing close to them when it happened. The canister and getting shot [by munitions] were both intentionally aimed at me,” Azar told the Tracker. “I was standing with a group of media who were all visibly press as well.”
A spokesperson for ICE referred the Tracker to FPS, a Department of Homeland Security agency that deployed to Portland, for comment, but the agency didn’t respond. PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was shoved multiple times by police officers while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 15, 2020.
Azar told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Portland police officers were “being super aggressive with members of the press” that night. She posted a tweet, alongside a video of officers repeatedly calling “Move!” and pressuring people to walk in one direction; Azar called the confrontation “terrifying.”
“People almost fell off the railing from how hard the cops were pushing. We were not even next to the protesters,” she told the Tracker.
Azar said officers pushed her several times, including pushing her into a car at one point.
@PDocumentarians got maced and they wouldn’t let us get to him to help. I just got pushed into a car
— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) August 15, 2020
“I’m still shaken. I honestly was afraid for everyone’s safety,” Azar said.
She said she had been wearing a vest and helmet, both labelled with press markings, as well as a credential from Pacific Northwest Press Corps, which describes itself as an association of independent journalists covering ongoing protests in Portland and other parts of the Pacific Northwest.
Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing continuing litigation involving the City of Portland. Since July, 2020, law enforcement officers from the PPB and federal agencies have been barred by court rulings from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests.
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 here.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was pushed by a law enforcement officer while she was covering protests on Aug. 5, 2020, in 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 covering protests across the country.
Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to the city agreeing to a preliminary injunction in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.
On Aug. 5, Azar was covering a demonstration that started at Floyd Light City Park in Southeast Portland at around 8 p.m. Protesters then marched to the Portland Police Bureau’s East Precinct station, about a five-minute walk from the park. When protesters arrived at the precinct, some of them vandalized surveillance cameras and set small fires outside the precinct, according to KGW8, the local NBC affiliate.
At around 10 p.m., after declaring the protest a riot, law enforcement officers responded with tear gas, driving the demonstrators away from the precinct station into the surrounding residential neighborhood.
At 10:36 p.m., Azar posted a video on Twitter showing a police officer directing protesters to move north as another group of officers arrests someone on the ground in the middle of a street. Azar continues to film as officers push observers from the progressive legal organization National Lawyers Guild away as they try to film the arrest. About 40 seconds in, an officer appears to approach Azar, and then her camera goes askew as she yells out.
“They pushed me and nlg for trying to film this,” Azar, who didn’t respond to interview requests from the Tracker, wrote on the post accompanying the video.
The incident was also captured by Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos from across the street. About 45 seconds into footage he posted, an officer can be seen pushing the NLG observer and Azar. There was a combination of Portland police and Oregon State Police involved in clearing the protesters, according to Olmos.
Portland Police Bureau spokesman Derek Carmon declined to comment on the video and Azar’s allegation, citing continuing litigation.
Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was assaulted by Portland police while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, on July 16, 2020.
The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out across the country in response to police violence following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.
Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was expanded to apply the ban to federal agents later that month.
Journalist Griffin Malone — whose work has appeared on PBS, ABC and The Associated Press — told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was reporting outside the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department Office with Azar and two National Lawyers Guild observers when the deputies rushed out of the sheriff’s office. Amid the rush, officers pushed Azar and kicked her ankle, according to Malone
Azar told the Tracker that she was also hit on the ankle by a flash-bang grenade, which drew blood. She also said she had bruises across her legs from being hit with crowd-control munitions.
Azar told the Tracker she was wearing a vest and helmet, both labeled with press markings, as well as a credential from Pacific Northwest Press Corps, which describes itself as an association of independent journalists covering ongoing protests in Portland and other parts of the Pacific Northwest.
When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the Portland Police Bureau told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review. The PPB did not respond to a request for comment about these specific incidents as of press time.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.