Photojournalist detained, camera and bag damaged at NYC protest

Freelance photojournalist Olga Fedorova was detained by New York City police while documenting a protest on Sept. 10, 2024. Officers slammed her against a wall, damaging her camera, and ripped her equipment bag off her back.

Fedorova told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that a small group of demonstrators in “black bloc” — wearing all black and concealing their identities — gathered in Manhattan ahead of the presidential debate that evening. According to a statement shared with journalists, the protest focused on the election, as well as issues ranging from the ongoing Israel-Gaza war to corruption in NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

In her footage, distributed via FreedomNews.TV, demonstrators are seen pulling trash bins and plastic barricades into the street to block traffic and spraying graffiti on a city bus and on a T-Mobile storefront.

“Eventually police attempted to intercept them and they all scattered,” Fedorova said. “I saw a few arrests and then I kind of ran after the rest of them.”

When she couldn’t find them, Fedorova said she decided to file her footage.

“I’m standing on the sidewalk looking through my video when somebody grabs me from behind, pins my arms completely to my side, slams me into a wall and screams ‘Surprise!’” Fedorova said. “And then the person starts saying ‘Stop resisting.’ So that’s when I understood it was NYPD.”

Fedorova said she identified herself as press, explaining that she had her press credential on her as well as her camera, which was damaged when she was pushed into the wall. The officers ignored her, she said, and placed her in handcuffs and cut or tore her equipment bag off her back.

“Luckily one of the higher-ups was walking by — who is familiar with me because I cover so many of these protests and other things like pressers that the NYPD has — and he just told them to let me go,” Fedorova said. She added that while they did release her it was still “the most disturbing interaction I’ve had with the NYPD ever.”

A couple of days later, the NYPD released a video promoting the police response to the protest using footage from security cameras and drones and set to dramatic music. The video also used the footage Fedorova had captured, still bearing the FreedomNews.TV watermark.

“It was weird and kind of darkly funny that they both briefly — thank you very much — arrested me and then also stole my footage,” Fedorova said.

In addition to not paying to license the footage, she added, its use in a promotional video for the NYPD actively endangers her because activists may think she is working with the police and target her for it.

“It’s the last thing I need,” Fedorova told the Tracker.

“NYPD has been doing this interesting thing where they will point out footage or photographs that they have found online to activists, kind of on the spot, saying that, ‘Well, you or your friends are getting arrested because of this video,’” she added. “They’re trying to sort of make it difficult, I think, for journalists to work at these social movement and protest events.”

The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional information on the focus of the Sept. 10 demonstration.