Baltimore protests lead to reporters robbed by youths, arrested and beaten by police

© Reuters / Sait Serkan Gurbuz

    

Journalists fell victim to the chaos in Baltimore, engulfed in protest since Freddie Gray's death in custody. While police beat up and detained reporters, a producer with RT's Ruptly was robbed by a street gang on Sunday.

RT's Paulina Leonovich was surrounded by a group of aggressive youths while filming. They cursed and displayed obscene gestures into the camera.

Then suddenly one of them snatched the TV worker's bag and tried to run away with it. But the woman began chasing the perpetrator, shouting "Stop! Give it back!" until the he was apprehended by the police.

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The Ruptly producer wasn't the only journalist who got in trouble in Baltimore on the night.

The claims its photo editor, JM Giordano, was brought to the ground and beaten by Baltimore City cops in front of the police HQ.

Mind you. Worse violence I've seen from last night is the video of the POLICE beating a member of the press.

— Block Samson (@insanityreport) April 26, 2015

Giordano said he was standing next to a protester when somebody threw a rock at the police line, hitting a riot shield, provoking an indiscriminate reaction from the officers.

"They mobilized. They just swarmed over me. I got hit. My head hit the ground. They were hitting me, then someone pulled me out," he said.

The beating by at least five policemen went on despite one of Giordano's colleagues shouting "He's a photographer! He's press!"Giordano also said Reuters photographer Sait Serkan Gurbuz was arrested during the protest and taken away in a police van.

Gurbuz was later released, with police saying he had been detained for disorderly conduct.

Incredible gallery of photos from the Baltimore protests by @jmgpix, who was beaten up by police and kept snapping http://bit.ly/1Gz2ppY

— Nicky Woolf (@NickyWoolf) April 27, 2015

Freddie Gray was arrested in Baltimore on April 12 after making eye contact with one of several police officers in the area and running away. Sometime during his detention, he suffered a severe neck injury that damaged his spinal cord.

When he was taken to a hospital, the 25-year-old slipped into a coma and died on April 19. Gray's death has created outrage in Baltimore, with demonstrators calling for the six officers involved in the arrest to be disciplined.

The Baltimore PD has suspended the officers with pay, saying that they "failed to give medical attention in a timely manner multiple times" to Gray.