Journalist arrested while covering Oakland encampment cleanup

Multimedia journalist Yesica Prado was arrested while reporting on a homeless encampment cleanup operation in Oakland, California, on Sept. 17, 2024.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao announced in April that the city was awarded $7.2 million by the state to address three “long-standing encampments.” The news release said the funds would be used to provide supportive services, temporary shelter and then permanent housing.

Prado — who was on assignment for Street Spirit, a monthly newspaper in the Bay Area — wrote on the social platform X Sept. 16 that the city was beginning to clear one of the large encampments, located near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 23rd Street.

“Camp residents were supposed to transition to the Jack London Inn, but this hotel is not open yet. Many residents have lost their property and don’t know where to go,” Prado wrote.

When she arrived on Sept. 17, she wrote that day, the operation was being run differently, with more than a dozen officers from both the Oakland Police Department and California Highway Patrol present.

Prado reported that a city worker threatened her with arrest for not complying with his request to move elsewhere, despite having already moved outside the caution tape as previously directed. She added that she was forced to stand on the sidewalk, while others documenting the operation were permitted to remain on the road.

“From the distance, I can’t hear what city staff is telling my sources, which raises serious questions,” Prado wrote. “A fair assessment of the city’s actions can’t be made without a free press.”

In Prado’s footage of the moments leading up to her arrest, she can be heard questioning officers about why they are ordering her to document from the other side of a fence, stating that she cannot see from that location.

“If you fully refuse to leave a safe work zone it is a misdemeanor in the Oakland Municipal Code, so start walking and leave the safe work zone or you will be placed under arrest,” an officer tells Prado. When she notes that others are still walking around the area, the officer responds, “Oakland Police Department. Do not resist or force will be used on you.”

As the officers begin to move toward Prado, she moves to walk away and, after another short exchange, the video cuts out as an officer places her hand behind her back.

Journalist and documentarian Caron Creighton filmed as officers led Prado away in handcuffs, writing that she too was threatened with arrest. Creighton told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that officers held Prado in a police vehicle for approximately 30 minutes before citing and releasing her.

Prado was charged with interfering with public employees and remaining in an area that had been designated a safe work zone, both misdemeanors. Prado did not respond to emailed requests for comment from the Tracker.

The Oakland Police Department confirmed that officers arrested, cited and released an individual for violating the City of Oakland’s Safe Work Zone ordinance after received multiple verbal warnings.

Oakland is the latest city in which journalists covering cleanup sweeps of homeless encampments have faced threats of arrest or criminal charges, according to a Sept. 10 letter from 20 press freedom and civil liberties organizations — including the First Amendment Coalition and Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project — to California leaders and law enforcement.

“We have serious concerns about the recent law enforcement treatment of journalists in Sacramento and Los Angeles,” the letter said, noting four recent incidents. “We urge cities, counties and state agencies to conduct these activities transparently, and ensure workers and officers in the field respect the First Amendment rights of the press to observe and document government actions in public.”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include information provided by journalist and documentary filmmaker Caron Creighton and comment from the Oakland Police Department.