Fox News videographer describes tense moments with protesters at the White House
The closest police were two blocks away, Christian Galdabini tells Rick Leventhal.
As protests continue in cities across America over the death of George Floyd while in police custody, Fox News DC videographer Christian Galdabini said on Sunday that Fox News' encounter with the rioters was a “very tense situation.”
“I was in Iraq several times and Afghanistan once or twice and last night, for different reasons, it was as intense or as scary as a lot of the situations I had in Iraq. When you’re with U.S. troops in Iraq, you obviously have protection. But, we were kind of on an island. We didn’t have any protection,” Galdabini told "Fox News."
“It was scary for that reason,” Galdabini said.
An angry mob of rioters stoked by the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes, turned its rage on a Fox News crew early Saturday, chasing and pummeling the journalists outside the White House in a harrowing scene captured on video.
Galdabini said that the Fox News camera crew was on the field for “2 hours-plus.”
“When you’re in that situation, there are always hecklers. A lot of times they are with you, follow you around and try to get you to react. They bait you a little bit. If you ignore them, they usually go away after 5 or 10 minutes,” Galdabini said.
Galdabini said, however, there was “one guy” who kept following them the whole time.
“Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced,” Galdabini said.
Galdabini said that the man started yelling at the top of his lungs to bring attention to the fact that he spotted Fox News. Galdabini said that after 5 seconds, 7 people crowded them.
“It started getting physical pretty quick and we decided it was time to go,” Galdabini said.
Veteran reporter Leland Vittert was covering protests in Lafayette Park just before1 a.m. with three crew members when as many as a dozen masked protesters surrounded them, in footage caught by the Daily Caller.
After a protester lunged at Vittert while he was reporting on air, the team made a beeline out of the park, with the hostile and growing crowd in pursuit.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Vittert and the crew were punched and hit with projectiles as they fled, and a Fox News camera was broken when a member of the mob tried to grab it.
"Imagine what it's like to be a black man, feeling like this every f---ing day,” a woman is seen shouting at the crew as they hurried away, surrounded by a growing mob.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.