Location: United States, New York
Date: June 4, 2020

New York City police officers surrounded, shoved and yelled expletives at two Associated Press journalists covering protests on June 2nd in the latest aggression against members of the media during a week of unrest around the country.

Photographer Maye-E Wong was covering the protests in lower Manhattan with her colleague Robert Bumsted when they were surrounded by over half a dozen police officers, pushed and shoved and forced to stop filming while yelling profanities and ordering the journalists to go home. 

Wong was separated from her colleague as a result of the violence. Both journalists were wearing AP identification and identified themselves as media.

“They didn’t care,” Wong said. “They were just shoving me.”

Demonstrations sparked across the United States after murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, in the pursuit of justice. With numerous police forces deployed to protest sites, journalists face constant threat of violence, arrest and censorship. Hundreds of journalists have reported to have faced attempts at censorship, verbal attacks, blatant threats and police violence. Hundreds of journalists have been arrested while on duty and black journalists who take the ongoing civil unrest very personally are especially targeted. CFWIJ follows the events closely with great concern.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.