Freelance photojournalist arrested at pro-Palestinian protest at DNC in Chicago

Freelance photojournalist Sinna Nasseri was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while on assignment for German news outlet Zeit covering a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention.

A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

Photojournalists Josh Pacheco and Olga Fedorova were among the dozens detained. CBS News reported that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said three journalists were arrested for not complying with officers’ orders when police began moving in to arrest protesters who had attacked police.

Nasseri told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting the protesters as they started marching away from the consulate when the police kettled them, trapping him and a few other journalists on all sides. The officers “were screaming. They were pretty aggressive and started making arrests,” he said.

Nasseri said he identified himself as press to the police multiple times, but was handcuffed and then detained at a precinct until 6 a.m. the following morning. He added that his equipment was returned to him upon his release, and that it appeared to be undamaged.

Nasseri told the Tracker that the officers’ violent behavior seemed disproportionate to what was happening — that the protesters seemed nonviolent and that he and the journalists he was with took care to stay on the sidewalk.

“I’ve covered many, many protests and this was very strange in that they were very aggressive,” he said.

The DNC’s Public Safety Joint Information Center confirmed that Nasseri had been cited for disorderly conduct — breach of peace. It did not respond to an additional question about why the journalist was arrested. Nasseri told the Tracker an initial hearing on the charge is scheduled for Sept. 27.

Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that in advance of the DNC, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.

“They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”

The three journalists were charged “for simply doing their jobs as reporters,” Nasseri’s attorney Steven Baron told the Tracker. “We are disappointed that the City of Chicago chose to sweep the First Amendment under the rug with its heavy-handed tactics against working journalists.”

Editor’s note: This article and the incident’s metadata have been updated to include comments and details from Nasseri.