New York City, N.Y. — Members of the local media were harassed by a group of occupiers from the "City Hall Autonomous Zone" after they started to film a man who jumped onto a news van. The crowd was upset at the media because they did not want them to use the incident to paint the whole movement as being unhinged.
The new CHAZ is protesting to have the New York City Council cut the New York City Police Department's budget by $1 billion.
Another reason why the crowd was upset was that they said an occupier had been arrested in the morning and media members either were not around to film it or chose not to film the arrest.
Some in the crowd used their hands or other objects to block the view of the media's cameras, while others began to shout at the cameramen.
Some media members got harassed by some of the NYC CHAZers after they started to film someone who jumped onto one of their news trucks.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 30, 2020
The crowd was upset because they were worried the media filming that individual would delegitimize the movement. pic.twitter.com/QvXWFQmh79
"This is a message for the media people...if you are here, you better [be] here 24/7 on us, you better show everything. If you just show what you want, we will kick you out. I promise you!" one man shouted to the crowd's approval.
"No, you listen to me! I don't care about your fancy equipment, I don't care how big your cameras are, and I don't care which channel you're from, my n***a!" the man continued.
The man asserted that if the media had recorded the incident that morning, then his friend would not have been arrested. He added he was serious, "I am out [here] every single day! I swear to God!"
In response to the harassment, the local media moved across the street where some NYPD officers were stationed.
