Journalist claims police targeted him at Portland protests - report
The ongoing protests in Portland have been escalating due to backlash against the use of federal agents, which Trump has suggested sending to multiple cities across the US.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFederal law enforcement officers are seen during a demonstration against the presence of federal law enforcement officers and racial inequality in Portland, Oregon, US, July 22, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/CAITLIN OCHS)
Police confronting nightly protests in Portland, Oregon, are not only targeting rioters, a freelance journalist and videographer who was shot in the eye by what he claims is a pepper ball told CNN."I got hit right in the eye," 37-year-old Trip Jennings told CNN. "I remember seeing the lens of my gas mask shatter and then closing my eye and just blood inside of my mask."I blinked and I blinked and got some of the blood out of my eye and there was pepper spray and I think pepper powder all over me."That moment of impact is really just burned in my memory. That vision of shards in my gas mask exploding. And then my face and body on fire from the pepper balls. I mean you can't forget that."Jennings, whose work has been covered in various outlets including PBS and National Geographic, was was covering the fierce nightly protests on Sunday, camera in hand and gas mask on his face.The protests – which were one of the several anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests sparked following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May – have only worsened in recent weeks due to US President Donald Trump's decision to dispatch federal agents to the city in July. The agents have been accused of unlawful activity by both protesters and local politicians, and have been filmed forcibly taking protesters into unmarked vehicles.At the protests, law enforcement officials – though Portland's Police Bureau told CNN that none of their officers were involved – have used tear gas and rubber bullets to get the protesters under control. On Sunday night, however, Jennings explained to CNN that they used more rubber bullets, pepper balls and tear gas than he had ever seen in Portland.Police attacked protesters with bullets and physically throwing them to the ground, according to videos seen by CNN, and protesters soon started launching fireworks.Jennings attempted to leave, and held his arms up so law enforcement would identify him as a journalist. Though he started to walk away, "as soon as I turned around just a little bit, they shot me in the face," he told CNN.This was the first injury Jennings had suffered in the field, even compared to covering protests in more typically dangerous regions such as Mexico and the Palestinian Territories."I was surprised. I was there to do my job," he added. "I've done my job like this in a lot of different places and a lot of different protests by different countries, a lot of different places in the United States. And normally when you make it clear that you have a job to do, to document the protest and you're doing that, there's a degree of safety, and that was just not present on (Sunday) night."The ongoing protests in Portland have been escalating due to backlash against the use of federal agents, which Trump has suggested sending to multiple cities across the US.Multiple non-protesters have been affected by law enforcement efforts at controlling the demonstrations, with Portland's mayor having been caught in tear gas earlier.Amid the backlash, a Portland judge barred federal law enforcement from using physical force or arresting journalists not suspected of committing crimes. The Justice Department issued a statement in response against the ruling, calling it "unworkable in light of the split-second judgments that federal law enforcement officers have to make while protecting federal property and themselves during dynamic, chaotic situations," CNN reported.
