PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) — In scenes reminiscent of last summer, federal agents swarmed the streets of Portland, Oregon, last week, shooting rounds of tear gas and pepper balls that threaten to upend efforts to settle a lawsuit, and local police used mass detention tactics to prevent crime — a move civil rights attorneys say is illegal.
Photojournalist Justin Yau was covering on a protest at the Mark O. Hatfield Thursday night. Standing near a stone column in the courthouse portico, he snapped photos of protesters who pried plywood boards off the front windows of the courthouse. They smashed windows and the glass front door and began tossing plastic water bottles inside.
Like a scene in an old western, federal agents aimed their weapons out the broken front door and unleashed a stream of automatic fire. “Less lethal” munitions hit protesters. And they hit Yau with half a dozen rounds of pepper ball — in spite of a Ninth Circuit ruling barring federal agents from targeting the press for assault and arrest.
In August, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon barred federal agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Protective Services from arresting, threatening to arrest or using physical force against anyone they know or reasonably should know is a journalist or legal observer.
Yau was dressed head to toe in neutral tones, had a press pass hanging from his neck and was emblazoned in multiple places with big block letter spelling out the word “PRESS.” One such patch was affixed to his chest — inches away from where the highly trained marksmen protecting the courthouse on Thursday hit him with pepper balls. They also hit him on his hand and on the phone he was using to document their actions.
Pepper balls are small round projectiles that explode on contact, releasing burning powder that stings for hours and can get stirred up days or weeks later if not properly removed from every surface.
Yau’s chest and hands were covered. But he cleaned up as best he could and continued reporting.
“I ran around the corner of pillar and took cover,” Yau said. “I couldn’t take off my mask because everything was covered in it. Had to keep my windows open on the drive home. And my puppy wasn’t happy. I had to leave my clothes outside.”
Another journalist, Suzette Smith, was at the courthouse Thursday night reporting for Willamette Week. Smith, a freelancer who doesn’t have health insurance, went home with painful injuries inflicted by federal agents who didn’t distinguish her from protesters, as they are legally required to do.
Federal agents hit Smith with rubber bullets, which are harder and fly faster than the pepper balls used against Yau. Both are filled with pepper powder. Smith says agents hit her at least eight times — three on the legs and five or more in the torso.
“My backpack and safety vest caught a lot of the force, which I’m grateful for,” Smith said. “So I only developed light bruising on my side.”
On her legs, she suffered dark bruises and heavy swelling.
Yet on Monday, attorneys in Biden's Department of Justice signaled willingness to settle a lawsuit filed by journalists who say police and federal agents targeted them for assault and arrest. Government attorneys under President Donald Trump fought the case, arguing that journalists’ request to be allowed to document police treatment of protesters after crowds are ordered to disperse amounted to a request for “special” First Amendment rights.
The Ninth Circuit rejected the government’s demand for an emergency stay of a lower court’s order allowing press and legal observers to remain after dispersal orders. The case was poised for another hearing early this month on the government’s appeal of its failed motion to dismiss the case. But the parties asked the court to delay while the Biden administration’s newly appointed leaders at the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service found their footing.
Follow @@karinapdx
