Varad Mehta

The only "violence" I saw from antifa were cameras being swatted away. I did get shoved into a wall by the cops. and I watched the police kick the shit out of a protester. I've covered antifa before. Been yelled at for filming before. But only ever been assaulted by police.

They aren't punching reporters, not that I've seen evidence of. They are shoving and pulling and sometimes damaging cameras, when people continue to record them after being asked not to. Is that nice? No. But I saw greater violence delivered via cops.

Ah yes you have to get staples in your head because someone gently grabbed your camera, silly me for thinking otherwisehttps://twitter.com/cbs6/status/896947790189907969 …

This is the first evidence I've seen of physical injury, and no it is not OK. Any more details been offered? The fact that they say a "protester" and not Antifa did this is significant to me. There were a lot more protesters than Antifa at the rally.

How do you know if a protestor self-describes as an antifa ‘member’ or not? Wearing black? Covering face? Regardless, do you believe more journalists were prevented from doing their job by police or protestors at the most recent rallies?

If you have worked warzones and areas of civil unrest before, you learn to be careful about when and how you use your camera. Human lives are on the line. I've had guns pointed at me for filming in the wrong places. That training probably explains my better interaction w Antifa

This really underscores my concerns. Cops routinely violate the First Amendment, and the President of the United States is calling the press an enemy of the people and has been encouraging violence against reporters. Do we need the Antifascists and fascists on the same page?

Who are you kidding? - Police form an armed escort for the Nazis. - City government give Nazis free, secure train to and from their rally. - Numerous protesters and journalists report manhandling and shoving by police. And somehow Antifa is the problem *in any way* here?

I don't blame them for pushing cameras out of the way. They can be targeted by fascists online, being filmed. Meanwhile, cops shoot tear gas at journalists which causes real harm. Overblown.

They’re in public; people have a right to film them and they have no right to lay hands on anybody doing it.

yeah and the WaPo doesn't have to do a GD whiny-ass write-up about it just to get the right's panties further up their asses. it's classic outlier bias bullshit and not worth the ink on the paper.

Outlier? Antifa consistently does this stuff. They've done it in Portland recently, and they literally rioted and committed Arson in Berkeley to stop @benshapiro from speaking on campus. How is this an outlier?

It’s outlier bias because the media never fails in making 5 or 10 people the poison pill in a protest of thousands. They pick out the worst actors and nullify the legitimacy of the entire group.

So your claim is that there's like 5-10 violent Antifa people and that's it? The rest are peaceful and commit no crimes, and assault nobody?

That the majority of counterprotestors don't assault people is really that hard to believe for you?

Who said otherwise? Antifa is an organization built for the express purpose of using violence to dictate who is allowed to speak and who isn't. That's it's entire purpose. No, no riot ever consisted of only 5-10 people - ever. There is no such thing as a 5 man riot.