Social media journalists detained while covering Brooklyn Center protest

April 14, 2021
Independent journalist Naasir Akailvi, of the Minnesota-based social media news outlet the Neighborhood Reporter, said he was detained while covering a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 14, 2021.Akailvi told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was detained by Minnesota State Patrol troopers at the same time as his Neighborhood Reporter colleague, journalist Tracy Gunapalan. The Neighborhood Reporter covers social justice movements in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region and publishes on social media platforms, Akailvi said.Demonstrations were held several days …

Unicorn Riot journalist detained, microphone damaged while covering Brooklyn Center protest

April 14, 2021
Niko Georgiades, a journalist with the nonprofit media outlet Unicorn Riot, said he was detained by police while covering a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 14, 2021.Demonstrations were held several days in a row outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in response to the fatal police 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 death …

Photojournalist hit by officers with batons during Brooklyn Center protest

April 13, 2021
Joshua Rashaad McFadden, a freelance photojournalist on assignment for the New York Times, said law-enforcement officers hit him with batons as he covered a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 13, 2021.The fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center on April 11, 2021 rekindled a wave of racial-justice protests that began almost a year earlier. Wright’s death, on April 11, occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of …

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 videographer arrested during Los Angeles protest

November 4, 2020
Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was arrested while filming election-related protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 4, 2020.Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that protesters had planned to march from City Hall downtown to Pershing Square a little less than a mile away. By approximately 7 p.m., most of the crowd had dispersed and Beckner-Carmitchel said he thought he could head out for the night.A few unmarked police cars moved in …

Federal agents shoot independent videographer three separate times with crowd-control munitions, damage camera

October 29, 2020
Independent journalist Mason Lake said he was shot three separate times with crowd-control munitions by federal law enforcement officers while he was covering a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Oct. 29, 2020. The pepper balls also damaged his video camera, he said.Lake, a videographer, was covering one of the many Portland protests against law enforcement violence that first erupted after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in …

Videojournalist assaulted, equipment broken during Austin demonstration

October 24, 2020
Austin-based independent videojournalist Hiram Gilberto Garcia was assaulted and had his equipment damaged while covering a protest in Texas’ capital city on Oct. 24, 2020, according to social media posts.At approximately 6:40 p.m., Garcia — who posts his livestreams and interviews on Facebook and his website — was documenting a march against police brutality organized to mark the six-month anniversary of the death of Mike Ramos, an unarmed Black and Hispanic man who’d been fatally shot by an Austin police …
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