OC Weekly journalists say they were attacked at pro-Trump march

Journalists from the OC Weekly newspaper say they were physically attacked during a rally to support President Trump in Huntington Beach, California, on Saturday.

Before the march began, the OC Weekly reports, a few Trump supporters and opponents talked to each other and wished for peace on both sides. Not long after, a woman approached intern Frank Tristan, who told her he was part of the media, and Tristan said the woman hissed back at him, "Fake news!" By the time the march started, tensions were high. Two black counter-protesters were confronted by Trump supporters, the OC Weekly says, and one of them was punched by a person wearing brass knuckles and shouting racial slurs.

A melee soon broke out, and the OC Weekly says Tristan was punched by a Trump supporter while photographers Brian Feinzimer and Julie Leopo were swatted with flags. When an anarchist counter-protester tried to pepper spray one of the attackers, he hit Tristan and Jennifer Sterling, a march organizer who was trying to break up the fight. Around this time, the OC Weekly says, neo-Nazis arrived.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The paper posted several videos of the fracas, including one profanity-laced clip showing a supporter hurling vulgar names at counter-protesters, and OC Weekly editor-in-chief Gustavo Arellano is urging anyone who recognizes the man Tristan says threw punches to contact him with his name. Read the whole play-by-play — with cameo appearances from a "toothbrush-needing woman [who] tried to mark the faces of counter-protesters with a pen" and people inexplicably chanting "Lock her up!" — at OC Weekly.