This photograph was taken on the corner of 12th and K Street, NW, in Washington, D.C., shortly after the stand off at Thomson Elementary School on 12th and L streets. where the police arrested over 200 protesters, many associated with the Antifa and Black Bloc movements. I got this shot after realizing flash bang grenades are not a big deal. They are loud and they are meant to intimidate, but after the 10th one or so you realize it’s just a crowd dispersal tactic that’s essentially harmless. It’s at that point I got a little emboldened and thought it would be great to get some shots of these going off pretty close to me, so I hung around the front lines.
The police were pepper spraying, shooting rubber bullets and lobbing flash bangs at anyone who approached their front line. If you look closely almost everyone here is carrying a camera of some sort. They were all media.
For me, this image is a predecessor to Trump’s war on journalism and speaks volumes about our current White House’s attitude towards the media.
Image © 2017 Chris Suspect. You can see more of Chris’ work on his website, Suspect Device.
