Photojournalist struck, pushed with baton amid Israel-Gaza war protests

Documentary photographer Q. Sakamaki was shoved with a baton and kicked by a New York City police officer on Oct. 7, 2024, while documenting demonstrations marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war.

Sakamaki told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he has covered protests in the city for decades and was photographing the protests in Manhattan that day. He said he was in a densely packed crowd with numerous other members of the press, photographing the arrest of a pro-Palestinian protester, when his camera strap suddenly became entangled with an officer’s baton.

“I tried to, you know, pull it out. At the same time, many people also moved,” Sakamaki said. “Then, the officer suddenly lost control of his temper. He got angry, just pushing me and actually kicked me a lot, but I couldn’t go back because there were so many people behind me.”

In footage captured by other journalists in the crowd, an officer can be seen first striking and then pushing Sakamaki back with his baton.

Sakamaki said that after things had calmed down, he approached the officer and attempted to speak with him, but the officer shouted, “Back! Back! I warned you.”

The photographer told the Tracker that he was struck in the liver and has “felt sick” since the incident, but that it hasn’t discouraged his coverage. He added that police are responding harshly to large protests and without adequate training or planning.

“They don’t know how to control their temper, they don’t know how to de-escalate the situation,” Sakamaki said. “In the ‘80s and ‘90s it was bad, but now covering ordinary protests is getting harder, harder, harder.”

The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.