Journalist Andy Ngô Says He Was Nearly Killed by ‘Antifa’ While Undercover at Oregon Protest
By Carl Samson
June 7, 2021
Conservative journalist Andy Ngô said he was chased and beaten by antifa members while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, late last month.
Why this matters: Ngô, who says he has focused on exposing antifa for years, said “no journalist in America should ever face violence for doing his or her job.”
- The attack occurred on May 28, while Ngô was covering the ongoing protests and riots in Portland for a new chapter of his book, “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.”
- In a Twitter thread on June 2, Ngô explained that he had to mitigate risks like other beat reporters would on the field, so he covered his face and eyes “to do my job and stay alive.”
- Ngô told Fox News his disguise began to fall apart when rioters noticed that he had not been participating in “throwing projectiles at law enforcement” or “trying to damage the Central police station.”
- The mob then allegedly pulled his mask off, and upon confirming his identity, chased him through downtown Portland before one caught up and repeatedly punched his head and face.
- A video of the incident shared by the Willamette Week shows a group of masked individuals — who were mostly white — banging the windows of The Nines Hotel, where Ngô found a temporary refuge before ending up in the emergency room with multiple injuries.
Not the first time: This is the second time in two years that Ngô, who is openly gay and the son of Vietnamese immigrants, has fallen victim to mob violence.
- In June 2019, Ngô suffered a brain hemorrhage after being attacked by alleged antifa protesters who covered him in eggs, pepper spray and bear spray, as well as milkshakes believed to contain quick-dry cement. At the time, then-Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang expressed support for Ngô, tweeting, “Journalists should be safe to report on a protest without being targeted.”
- Since then, Ngô said he has made more than two dozen reports of threats and attacks to Portland police, but he has not heard back to date.
- Ngô shared photos and videos from the latest incident, including screenshots of tweets that talk about “finishing” him. He also shared two undated photos of vandalism that explicitly call for his murder.
- “The attacks against me and threats on my life are retribution for my work as a journalist, recording the tactics and true ideology of an extremist clandestine movement that relies on deception and regards the truth as the greatest threat of all,” he wrote.
- The Portland Tribune’s Zane Sparling first reported the incident on Twitter. At least one man was charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon, felony attempted assault, felony riot and other crimes, but Ngô said his bail was “immediately covered by an Antifa bail fund group.”
Ngô, who is currently editor-at-large at The Post Millennial, called on Portland police and federal authorities to deal with the antifa before “operatives hiding behind their masks” actually kill someone on their watch. He also called on other journalists and “those who believe in the First Amendment” to join him in fighting “the tyranny of those who use violence to terrorize, silence and suppress the truth.”
NextShark has reached out to the Portland Police Department for further comment.
Featured Images via Andy Ngô
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