Journalist attacked by 'Black Bloc' militants at Antifa riot in Portland

Independent journalist Tristan Taylor was beaten and robbed around 1AM on Saturday morning by black bloc militants during his livestream of Antifa riots in Portland.

Taylor explains what happened in a video he published from his personal Twitter account. Taylor also spoke to The Post Millennial about the experience.

He witnessed a mob surround a “person of color” and hurried to record the incident. Then the crowd turned on him, angered by his efforts to document the violence.

"Around 1 am, I saw a large group of people in black swarm a person of color and begin to be very aggressive with him. I was worried for his wellbeing, and began recording in his direction for his safety," Taylor told The Post Millennial.

"The Antifa members there did not like this, and told me to stop," said Taylor. "I knew in my heart I could not leave this man there to whatever they planned to do, so I continued."

Taylor alleged that he managed to take one of the attackers down but was thrown to the ground and beaten.

"Soon thereafter, they began rushing me, and hitting me," Taylor said. "I attempted to defend myself, but there was soon a dozen people surrounding me, beating and kicking me. They took both my personal Galaxy  s20 ultra and the phone I use to record - my galaxy s9. Luckily, 3 or 4 good Samaritans pulled me out of their crowd before they beat me unconscious and could take everything."

"Healthwise, I am not going to die. I have a busted lip, a sore jaw, and a few bruises," he said.

A couple of nearby onlookers managed to pull him out of the ongoing assault.

Speaking to The Post Millennial, Taylor explained that  he had been covering the ongoing protests and last night was set to be no different.

"I do so free of charge because it is important to me that everyone and anyone in America should be able to see what is going on, regardless of their political beliefs or ideologies," said Taylor.

"I got involved because I already live downtown, and frankly, I have always had a distaste for 21st-century mainstream media. Everything seems like it is an opinion piece," he continued. "I usually listen to BBC or just go straight to Reuters or AP because I know what I am seeing isn't biased (and if it is you can usually get a sense of it). I really just wanted to document these protests in a way that was unbiased and available to anyone with an internet connection."

Taylor believes that the violence in these riots are damaging the legitimacy of the protests.

"I really think that these radical groups are doing a number to the legitimacy of these protests," he explained.

"Since day one there have been two groups - one that stays out and causes trouble, and another that meets, protests peacefully for a few hours, and then march back to the easy side to disband," added Taylor. "With the increasing violence caused by the former, I really feel like it takes away from the efforts of these people with genuine intentions. I see them only getting worse because that's what they have continued to do. Something has to break."

In regards to the media's coverage of the ongoing protests, Taylor believes that the media should make a distinction between violent protesters and peaceful demonstrators.

"If it were me, I would try to make a distinction between these two groups and report it as such - but due to a myriad of reasons (these always happens to both sides of the spectrum when there are protests) the two groups are mixed together and therefore the public gets a conception that they are one in the same, which leads to more divide in my opinion," he said.

Taylor has set up a GoFundMe page to replace the equipment that was stolen from him by the Antifa militants, whom he describes as terrorists.

"The moment I have enough money to get equipment again, I'll be back out (obviously with better safeguards in place this time including security,etc)," he said. "I refuse to be intimidated by terrorists and will continue to document all parties involved for everyone to see."

This attack comes less than a week after The Post Millennial’s editor-at-large Andy Ngo testified before Congress about Antifa violence. Ngo experienced Antifa’s brutality first hand as their target since his investigations into the terrorist organization that he started years ago.

Ngo was attacked a year ago—suffering a brain hemorrhage and a ripped ear lobe—in almost the same place as Taylor was.

Despite Ngo’s testimony and lawsuit recently brought against the Rose City Antifa group and now Taylor’s vicious attack, the Democrats still refuse to acknowledge Antifa and its violence existence.