TRT World cameraman hit with projectiles while covering Minneapolis protest

Just after Minneapolis’ curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020, a correspondent and cameraman for Turkey’s state-run English-language news channel were hit by projectiles fired by police.

The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.

Lionel Donovan, a Washington-based correspondent for TRT World, said he had set up for a live shot outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct just after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, near some peaceful protesters staging a sit-in at an intersection. Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Governor Tim Walz’s order.

“The curfew came and it was like a button got hit,” Donovan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.

According to Donovan, the police advanced down the street and began to fire off tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd. One of the tear gas canisters hit cameraman Barbaros Sayilgan’s foot during Donovan’s live shot.

Sayilgan could not be reached for comment, but Donovan said he helped the cameraman and a producer off to safety, then went back into the street to film more footage himself. Donovan was filming on his phone, he said, when a blue foam round struck him in the inside of his left thigh, breaking the skin.

Requests for comment sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not immediately returned.

Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s communications director, brought up the attack on the crew in a June 3 phone call with David Satterfield, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, according to an article published in the Daily Sabah, a Turkish newspaper.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.