In the news
• US Press Freedom Tracker (8/15/2018): Portland police shove journalist Donovan Farley and photographer Doug Brown with batons
On August 4, Farley and Brown were in downtown Portland to cover the far-right “Patriot Prayer” protest and counter-protests for Paste magazine. Brown was taking photographs of protesters and Portland police officers, who were clad in riot gear and armed with batons and non-lethal weapons.
A video that Brown posted on Vimeo shows journalists and protesters slowly retreating before an advancing line of Portland police officers, as the officers fire non-lethal projectiles at them. At one point, the officers stop at the edge of a street and wait. Without warning, the officers begin running down the street toward towards Brown, Farley, and others. Once they reach them, they violently shove them backwards with their batons.
“Move!” the officers yell as they force Brown backwards.
“What’s your name?” Brown asks one of the officers pushing him. “What’s your name, sir? What’s your name?”
The officer does not reply.
• The Guardian (8/5/2018): Police in riot gear use stun grenades and pepper spray on leftwing groups protesting against Patriot Prayer marchers
A Portland photographer, Doug Brown, said that “the first missile I saw and heard came from the Patriot Prayer side, across the street, towards the protesters”.
“I don’t know who set it off, but it went towards the black bloc. And then the police just swarmed them,” Brown said.
Brown’s tweeted video of the police charge shows them confronting protesters en masse, and attacking him and and other reporters filming from a sidewalk.
• KGW (8/6/2018): Video shows officers rushing, shoving counter-protesters at Portland rally
Video shot by Doug Brown, who was covering the protest, shows police in riot gear shoving him and others down the street during Saturday's protest in Portland, Oregon.
• PetaPixel (8/9/2018): Video shot by Doug Brown, who was covering the protest, shows police in riot gear shoving him and others down the street during Saturday's protest in Portland, Oregon
Last Saturday, a right-wing rally in Portland, Oregon, drew out left-wing counterprotesters as well as riot police. Photojournalist Doug Brown was in the thick of it all with a GoPro camera mounted to the top of his DSLR. The 12-minute video above documents his experience that day.
• Buzzfeed News (8/5/2018: At A Far-Right Rally In Portland, Police Clashed With Anti-Fascist Counterprotesters