Reporter arrested, phone confiscated while covering NC homeless camp eviction

December 25, 2021
Asheville Blade reporter Matilda Bliss was arrested alongside a colleague while covering a police eviction of a homeless encampment in Asheville, North Carolina, on Dec. 25, 2021.Bliss, whose pronouns are she/they, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had been at Aston Park multiple times throughout the day but had left to run an errand at approximately 9 p.m. Both Bliss and Blade reporter Veronica Coit returned to the park a little before 10 p.m. after receiving texts about a …

Journalist arrested while covering North Carolina homeless camp eviction

December 25, 2021
Veronica Coit, a reporter for the Asheville Blade, was arrested alongside another Blade reporter while covering a police eviction of a homeless encampment in Asheville, North Carolina, on Dec. 25, 2021.The Blade reported that Coit, whose pronouns are they/them, arrived at Aston Park after reporter Matilda Bliss discovered that a significant police force had gathered there shortly before 10 p.m. A small encampment in the park was the latest focus of ongoing city efforts to clear Asheville’s homeless populations out …

Univision journalist arrested, his phone seized while reporting in Arizona

April 30, 2021
Local police officers arrested Univision Arizona news anchor León Felipe González Cortés and seized his cell phone while he was reporting in Gilbert, Arizona, on April 30, 2021.González was in Gilbert, about 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, to report on the death of one policeman and critical injury of another the previous day. The officers were hit by a man driving a stolen pickup truck, who was being chased by police, according to The Arizona Republic. The man was later …

Journalist cited while reporting on Brooklyn Center protest

April 13, 2021
Independent journalist Naasir Akailvi, who reports on social media as the Neighborhood Reporter, said he was detained and cited while reporting on a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 13, 2021.Demonstrations had been held for several days outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in response to the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop on April 11. Wright’s death occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the …

Photojournalist’s camera damaged during arrest in Portland

November 5, 2020
Freelance photojournalist Clementson Supriyadi was assaulted and arrested by Oregon State Police while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 5, 2020.In Portland, protests had been held on almost a nightly basis since late May in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.At around 8 p.m., …

Independent filmmaker arrested while covering anti-ICE protest in New York City

September 19, 2020
Ronald Weaver II, an independent filmmaker, was arrested while covering a protest against immigration policy and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York City on Sept. 19, 2020.The protest, which began in Times Square, was prompted by a whistleblower’s allegation that immigrant women held at a privately run detention center in Georgia were forced to undergo hysterectomies. Weaver, a New York-based filmmaker, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the protest was part of a broad protest movement against racial …

Independent journalist says LA police damaged his equipment while arresting him

May 30, 2020
Jonathan Mayorca, a journalist and co-owner of video news outlet The Convo Couch, was arrested by Los Angeles police while filming a demonstration on May 30, 2020.The protest was part of Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality demonstrations across the country. The protests were sparked by the release of a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.Mayorca told the …
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