Washington Post video reporter Dalton Bennett was pulled back and knocked down by riot police in downtown Washington D.C., while trying to video tape the arrest of dozens of anti-Trump protesters in Washington D.C.
Protesters wearing all black were arrested as part of an unauthorized march by a group calling itself the “Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Fascist Bloc.” According to a online appeal for marchers, the aim of the march was to “join together and demonstrate how to prevent Trump and his cronies from implementing their program.”
While marching south on 13th Street, protesters overturned trash cans and news racks. At one point, they smashed the windows of a parked, unoccupied limousine and threw a flare inside. After the protest turned east on I Street, marchers began smashing the windows of businesses and the screens of ATMs.
https://twitter.com/AlexanderEmmons/status/822467398171291656
https://twitter.com/AlexanderEmmons/status/822472272925560833
Riot police with batons, mace, and pepper spray arrived and pushed protesters into another line of armored police at 12th & L Streets, where several dozen were surrounded and arrested.
https://twitter.com/AlexanderEmmons/status/822474514189709314
Stephen Ginsburg, senior politics editor for the Washington Post called Bennett’s treatment “unacceptable,” in a tweet.
Top Photo: Police use pepper spray on protesters in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, in a confrontation blocks from Donald Trump’s inauguration.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
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