A conservative journalist says he was beaten by an unruly group protesting the Trayvon Martin decision at a rally Sunday night in Oakland, California.
Christian Hartsock, the conservative journalist who attended the event, told the Daily Caller that two men approached asking why he was there and told him to leave the protest. Hartsock refused.
“After retreating to a corner to catch B-roll, two young men approached me and interrogated me as to what I was doing there,” Hartsock said. “I advised them I was just there to see what was going on. They told me to get out. I asked why, which only afforded more threats. I declined their request to leave, they continued marching."
He later continues, “One young man chanted ‘There’s gonna be some violence tonight!’ He then came up to me and demanded I erase the footage from my phone — another request I declined.”
Hartsock say he was then attacked:
“As two other young men interrogated me, their friend behind them came up and a young man then slugged me in the face about three times — hard — and demanded that I leave. Then I began getting clocked by others in my left temple and jaw by other assailants and was mowed to the ground by about half a dozen of them."
Hartsock says he eventually fought off the mob, but could not manage to capture the event on video due to how fast it unfolded. Hartsock also spoke of how an ABC Channel 7 News truck was near the attack, but did not manage to get any video footage. They did, however, shoot footage of him talking to the police about the incident, which aired at the end of a news report.