Student photojournalist pushed by police, thrown by CBP agent at LA protest

Ethan Cohen, a student photojournalist for California State University’s Long Beach Current, was shoved by police and flung backward by a federal officer while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.

Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.

Outside the adjacent City Hall, officers with the LA Police Department formed a skirmish line and pushed Cohen, along with other journalists and protesters, down the street.

“I told him, ‘Hey, I can’t move back,’” Cohen said of the officer pushing him. “He seemed to be understanding at that point.”

As the crowd thinned outside the detention center, federal officers made targeted arrests. During one arrest, Cohen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, he crouched down to photograph the scene. Nearby, Customs and Border Protection agents grabbed photojournalist Blake Fagan and threw him backward.

“Then they picked me up and threw me back,” said Cohen, adding that he stumbled several steps before regaining his balance. “I was yelling at the officer, ‘What are you doing?’”

Cohen, who wore media credentials, and a vest and helmet labeling him as press, said he doesn’t know if the agent targeted him because he was a journalist or because the agent wanted to get through and create a perimeter for the arrest.

“There were other press that were told verbally to get back, rather than physically picked up and thrown,” Cohen said. “Had they asked me to move back, I would have complied, but I wasn’t given any option.”

The encounter interrupted Cohen’s ability to photograph the arrest; he said he removed himself from the situation and began documenting the protest in another area.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the LAPD. In a statement posted on May 1, the department wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”

In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in nearly two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment 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,” that statement said.