Police officer pushes photojournalist at LA protest

Photojournalist Jill Connelly was pushed by a police officer and later obstructed while documenting a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.

The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, one of thousands across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.

After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city in June 2025.

Connelly, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was pushed by an LA Police Department officer who was moving people back. She was wearing a helmet that said “press” on the front and back, and a clearly visible LAPD press credential around her neck.

She called the push “unnecessary,” but said it was not the level of targeted violence she experienced earlier that day, when she was shoved by a Department of Homeland Security agent as she took a photo of an arrest.

Connelly also said that she was among a group of press who were forced far back from a group of protesters that police had herded into an area near the detention center.

“We were trying to photograph what they were doing to these people, and they moved us really far back, so we couldn’t see what they were doing. And they knew we were press.”

She said the police kept driving them back further until one photographer asked for a supervisor, and that officer eventually moved them to where they could see arrests being made.

The press was “still far from the kettle where they were being handcuffed, but where we could see people being processed before they were put in vehicles for transport,” Connelly said.

In a written statement shared April 2, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement.

McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.

“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.