An Indian-origin journalist with a major U.S. television network was heckled by Donald Trump’s supporters and briefly detained by police during a protest at the Republican presidential front runner’s campaign rally here, media reports said.
CBS News reporter Sopan Deb was detained by police while covering the protest that broke out Friday night following the cancellation of Mr. Trump’s rally.
Mr. Deb was covering the clash between protesters and the Republican front runner’s supporters when he was detained, the news organisation said. “Deb was filming video of a man whose face was bloody and laying on the ground near police at the time of his arrest,” according to a ‘CBS This Morning’ report.
Mr. Deb alleged that he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed without notice or warning, the CBS news reported.
Illinois State Police charged Mr. Deb with resisting arrest though the network reported that neither his video, nor that of a nearby film crew, showed any sign of resistance. “I have never seen anything like what I am witnessing in my life,” the journalist tweeted after the incident.
Mr. Deb, who has been covering Trump’s campaign ever since he announced his presidential run last June, said “A Trump supporter just asked me at Reno event if I was taking pictures for ISIS. When I looked shocked, he said, ‘yeah, I am talking to you.’”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions.
Of late journalists have been at receiving end at the Trump campaign. Foreign journalists have been made totally out of bound while the domestic media are put inside an enclosure at all his rallies and are not allowed to move out.
Meanwhile, a reporter for the conservative website ‘Breitbart News’ filed a criminal complaint on Friday against Republican presidential election front runner Donald Trump’s campaign manager, saying he grabbed her arm with such force that he left bruises.
A police report released on Friday showed that the reporter, Michelle Fields, said she was the victim of battery on Tuesday night at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, where Mr. Trump spoke after that day’s contests in the race to nominate the party’s candidate for the presidential election.
The accusation prompted a flurry of exchanges between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Ms. Fields. The campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and Mr. Trump have denied the accusation.
