Incident details
- Date of incident
- January 11, 2026
- Location
- Fort Snelling, Minnesota
- Targets
- Yaakov Strasberg (Independent)
- Assailant
- Private individual
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
Workers outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on Jan. 12, 2026. Yaakov Strasberg was attacked by an individual at a protest outside the building the day before.
Independent reporter Yaakov Strasberg was pushed and struck by an individual attending a protest outside a federal building in the Minneapolis suburb of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on Jan. 11, 2026.
The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building has been a focal point of protests over its use as a base for the federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities area. Demonstrations escalated after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, a Minneapolis resident, while officers were conducting an operation there Jan. 7.
Strasberg, who primarily posts videos to YouTube and X, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at a protest on Jan. 9, a man tried to physically confront people in the crowd.
“He threatened me to be careful on how I report on things,” he said. “That I should watch out.”
At another protest outside the federal building a couple of days later, the same man tried to attack journalists covering the demonstration. Strasberg stepped in to break up the confrontation, and the man punched and shoved him.
“It was probably something to do with me in particular,” he said of the initial threat and the subsequent attack. He filed a police report but said no action was ever taken.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
