Student photojournalist Blake Fagan was shoved by an individual who also tried to yank off his press credentials while he was covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Fagan was documenting the protest for the Daily Sundial, the multimedia outlet for California State University, Northridge, when he followed the demonstration to the detention center.
There, an individual — who had previously sent Fagan a series of threatening messages on social media and accused him of taking a picture of his girlfriend — grabbed Fagan’s media credentials, looked at his name and tried pulling them from his neck. The man also yelled at other press in the area.
“He didn’t hit me, but he kept pushing me, saying I needed to be respectful,” Fagan said. “I didn’t know what he was talking about; I didn’t even have my camera raised, I was just standing there.”
Also that day, Fagan was pushed by a Department of Homeland Security officer and flung backward by a federal agent, landing on his back.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.