NY Post reporter’s credentials ripped from lanyard at Chicago protest

New York Post reporter Steven Vago had his credentials ripped from around his neck by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.

A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

Vago told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he began to film using his cellphone when protesters broke through the police line and officers attempted to control the crowd. As the action moved closer to where he was standing, Vago said, “I might’ve gotten a little too close for the cops’ comfort.”

In footage Vago posted to the social platform X, he can be seen filming from the sidewalk as police clash with demonstrators in the street near the consulate. At 0:28 in the clip, a handful of protesters can be seen making it past the police. When officers begin detaining others 20 seconds later, an officer appears to pin a demonstrator at Vago’s feet. The clip cuts out just after Vago identifies himself as press.

“I was wearing a New York City-issued press pass — the one I always wear, not a DNC one — but it does say my name and the outlet,” Vago said. “And all of a sudden, this cop just grabs it and yanks it off my neck, so my pass fell to the ground.”

He said he was able to quickly retrieve his credentials while repeatedly identifying himself as press, and that the pass was undamaged. Vago told the Tracker that he wasn’t sure whether the officer grabbed at him because he was a member of the press or if it was that he was close by in the heat of the moment.

In another clip Vago shared with the Tracker, officers repeatedly shouted “move” at a crowd that appeared to be predominantly members of the press while shoving them from behind with their hands and batons.

When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.

“We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the Aug. 21 news conference. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”

At least three other journalists were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and at least three were arrested.