Jon Ziegler attacked by white nationalist protesters in Tennessee

Incident Details

Date of Incident: October 28, 2017
Location: Shelbyville, Tennessee
Targets: Jon Ziegler (Independent)

Assailant: Private individual
Was the journalist targeted?: Yes

October 28, 2017

Independent journalist Jon Ziegler, who livestreams under the handle RebZ.tv, was reporting on a white nationalist rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on Oct. 28, 2017, when one of the white nationalist protesters struck him with a shield.

Ziegler told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the demonstration was divided into two sections — a white nationalist section and an anti-fascist section — which were each penned in by police barricades. Ziegler said that he interviewed protesters in both sections and was walking through the white nationalist area when he was suddenly confronted by a prominent leader in the National Socialist Movement, a white nationalist group.

The NSM leader told Ziegler that he was standing too close to the NSM's P.A. system and demanded that he leave. Ziegler said that a group of NSM members then surrounded him, threatened him and began pushing him around. He said that the NSM members were armed with shields — police had allowed them to carry shields because they were not considered offensive weapons — and one NSM member struck him with his shield.