Two unbiased journalists who say they had been assaulted whereas protecting immigration protests in Seattle accused native media retailers and metropolis leaders of turning a blind eye to violence from the unconventional far-left agitators.
Cameron Higby is an investigative journalist who focuses totally on protests, particularly these of the violent variant. He described his scary encounter at an anti-ICE rally in downtown Seattle intimately with Fox Information Digital.
As night fell, he stated Antifa took over streets downtown and have become violent. Movies posted to his social media present rioters making an attempt to interrupt into buildings and blocking automobiles from with the ability to proceed via the world.
Higby stated that Antifa stopped drivers and demanded they are saying, “F— ICE” and lit fires underneath the automobiles of drivers who wouldn’t comply. One video clip reveals rioters hurling an object at a automotive that attempted to flee.
In keeping with him, one lady was “so terrified that she abandoned her vehicle in traffic.”
As soon as Antifa returned to the federal constructing, Higby stated issues quieted down, so he sat down on the sidewalk. Despite the fact that he was dressed like Antifa and sporting a fuel masks, he was recognized by one man who instructed him to go away.
“Before I could stand up I was pinned up against a wall,” he stated.
Higby stated three males approached and tried to take away his masks and helmet.
“Then I was picked up by somebody and was choked out, punched in the head twice with sap gloves, which are filled with steel or lead shot. And then he kicked me in the face. I pepper sprayed him and he ran away. They then later found a black Jeep Wrangler that they thought belonged to me. They destroyed it, and the poor guy had to drive his car home with a busted windshield,” Higby recalled.
“I ended up with a concussion, nausea, dizziness, ringing in the ears, light flashes, and some headaches. I had to go to the ER and urgent care.”
Higby isn’t any stranger to violent conduct at protests he’s coated prior to now – sharing that in the future he was bear sprayed at “point-blank.” However he stated this weekend’s assault left him shaken like by no means earlier than.
“This is definitely the worst attack I’ve had on me, depending on how you look at it. I’ve been assaulted a lot, probably more times than I could count. This is probably the most violent assault. If I wasn’t wearing a helmet, I’d probably be dead or in the hospital in critical condition. I mean the staff clubs are like brass knuckles basically. The helmet’s dented and he punched me so hard that if you slow the video down you can see the filter of the gas mask actually fly off just from the impact of the hit.”
“This literally could’ve killed me,” he stated of the assault, which video solely captured after it was already underway. “If one of my friends hadn’t grabbed him and pulled him back, if that hadn’t happened, he probably would have kept going.”
“Thankfully, I was able to grab my car keys and my phone and all that. Otherwise, even if I managed to get away, I would have been stranded. I couldn’t contact anybody, I wouldn’t be able to drive my car,” Higby added.
Higby claimed that his sources instructed him the Seattle Police Division was instructed to not intervene within the protest – a call he stated would have come from metropolis officers.
“There is a detective on the case now. So it’s an extremely slow crawl, and we’ve just had to twist the arm of the SPD,” he stated. “I don’t have any animosity towards the rank-and-file police officers… I know SPD wants to take care of this problem, but they just can’t.”
The Seattle PD confirmed to Fox Information Digital that Higby filed a police report. As for media protection, Higby stated the native media “hasn’t covered anything about it,” and The Seattle Occasions, together with Mayor Bruce Harrell, “said everything was peaceful, it’s all good.”
Brandi Kruse is one other native, unbiased journalist who was attacked by masked protesters on Saturday at an anti-ICE protest in Tukwila, Washington, simply south of Seattle.
She was out protecting the anti-Trump “No Kings” protest within the metropolis that day when her group heard that Antifa was planning to attempt to disrupt immigration enforcement actions exterior a Division of Homeland Safety facility in Tukwila.
Whereas the “No Kings” protest had remained peaceable, issues rapidly escalated into violence after Kruse arrived on the DHS Antifa protest.
“At that point, there hadn’t been any sort of confrontations between police and these protesters,” she recalled. “I would say it took less than two minutes for the assaults to start. So we didn’t even really get a chance to do any reporting on the ground there because, within moments, this group was mobbing us.”
Video of the encounter that Kruse posted to YouTube reveals protesters spraying her with water and making an attempt to dam her digicam with black umbrellas and protest indicators. A number of folks surrounded Kruse and her armed safety member whereas chanting, “F— you, fascist,” and “Nazi.” As Kruse and her group walks away from the group to create far, they continued to comply with her and harass her, she says.
“They had no interest in leaving me alone. They kept yelling at me to leave,” she continued. Kruse stated a girl dumped a full water bottle on her head, just a few folks hit her from behind with their indicators and one man ran at them and sprayed insecticide in her face as her group tried to get away.
“This thing sprayed a pretty far distance and it burned immediately. And that person followed us for maybe 10, 20 feet, just continuing to spray us in the face with what we later found out was hornet killer,” Kruse defined.
Issues turned violent after an undercover military veteran provided help to Kruse and her group.
“As soon as Antifa realized that this army veteran was with us they pounced on him,” she stated. “There’s this part of the video that shows them knocking him to the ground. There’s maybe six or seven black-clad Antifa members, and they’re kicking him. They’re stomping him. It was absolutely brutal.”
She stated one particular person threatened the person with a gun earlier than Kruse’s safety was in a position to pull the “innocent bystander” out. One other civilian drove up at this second and rescued the three from the violent crowd.
“At that point, I didn’t really know the driver, but I knew that it was probably better than the situation we’re in. So we pile in with this guy, and we just take off as they’re pelting his vehicle with who knows what,” she stated.
Kruse filed a police report with the Tukwila PD afterward. The police confirmed to Fox Information Digital a report had been filed, and an investigation was ongoing.
Kruse is accustomed to these protests, having coated them extensively in her 15-year journalism profession. She beforehand labored at a Fox affiliate in Seattle for a number of years and now hosts a political commentary present known as “Undivided.” In her expertise, it’s commonplace for Antifa to assault journalists or “anyone who is exposing their criminal conduct.”
She stated she was beforehand assaulted by Antifa through the 2020 summer season of protests when the group took over elements of town. Kruse remembers this expertise within the new Fox Nation streaming collection, “Summer of Chaos: Inside Seattle’s CHOP Zone.”
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“This is a very violent faction of left-wing extremists with a long history of assaulting journalists in Seattle, including myself,” Kruse stated.
She accused native left-wing retailers like The Seattle Occasions of protecting for violent extremists.
On Saturday evening, the paper revealed a report on the protest with out mentioning the violence by the protesters. Their report paperwork Tukwila Police utilizing tear fuel in opposition to protesters and frames regulation enforcement because the instigators of violence.
“If you’d just read The Seattle Times article, you would think that the police unleashed on peaceful demonstrators,” Kruse stated. “So you have these media outlets that absolutely cover for violent left-wing extremists. And so Antifa doesn’t target them in the same way, because why would they?”
