Journalist Andy Ngo was beaten and doused in liquids which police believe contained quick-drying cement while covering an Antifa rally in Portland. A GoFundMe campaign for the reporter raised over $100,000 in less than a day.
The ‘Protect Andy Ngo Fund’ was started by conservative author and commentator Michelle Malkin, and more than doubled its original target of $50,000. The campaign currently stands at $136,000 raised from roughly 4,600 donors.
Ngo, who works as a journalist and editor at Quillette, claims his camera equipment was stolen and there were initial reports that he may have incurred brain damage of some description as a result of the violent beating, though this has yet to be officially confirmed.
In a video of the incident taken by Oregonian reporter Jim Ryan, which has been viewed over 10 million times, members of Antifa can be seen throwing what appear to be milkshakes, although authorities allege that these may have contained quick-drying cement.
“There were reports of individuals throwing ‘milkshakes’ with a substance mixed in that was similar to a quick-drying cement. One subject was arrested for throwing a substance during the incident,” police tweeted. “Milkshaking” is a tactic popularized by British left-wing activists who pelted right-wing politicians like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson with the dessert.
The police allegations have been denied by people who attended the event, however. “Anecdotally: I was there and did not see any evidence of this. The milkshakes being handed out (and I believe consumed) were coconut,” Buzzfeed reporter Joe Bernstein, who witnessed the events, said.
Police arrested three people in relation to violence at the protests. Two officers were pepper-sprayed, another was punched, and another received a non-life-threatening head injury from a projectile during the violence between the far-right Proud Boys and far-left Rose City Antifa who fought each other and police.
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